Stardrop Down
by FwichPastilla
Summary: When the Witch decides to curse the Wizard's latest experiment, Stardew Valley finds its bachelors and bachelorettes transformed into the worst of themselves through monstrous possession, holding the power of Stardrops hostage while the rest of the town spirals into mounting peril. Only a certain farmer was left unaffected for all she knew. [Rated for caution]
1. The Unfortunate Visit

_Just one more dose of Star Shards and a Fairy Stone, and I should be…_

It was already the dead of night, and Wizard Rasmodius was sweating profusely over his cauldron. It was bubbling its usually murky green mixture, though it flashed with hints of purple at the addition of the Star Shards he took from a nearby shelf. He reached up again and frowned.

 _I ran out of Fairy Stones NOW?_

He threw down his hat and ran a frantic hand through his disheveled hair in frustration. He was _THIS_ close to a breakthrough.

 _I suppose it's too late right now to ask someone in town to try their hand at fetching one for me. This is too unstable to leave unattended for too long a period of time…_

He whipped around at the sound of a resounding BANG of a door being thrown open. Standing there again the dark was the silhouette of a person in a long, sweeping black dress, wind-blown long hair, and a pointy black hat on her head. The Wizard dropped his shoulders and threw a furtive glance her way.

"Back again?"

"Only for tonight, like always," the Witch replied with a hint of cackle in her voice, stepping inside with her broom in hand. She looked around the dungeon-like abode. "Things never change here except…" She eyed the bubbling cauldron in between them. "…an experiment on the verge of completion?"

"Yes, so leave it alone," The Wizard answered curtly, "I've been working on this for months now."

"Like past experiments you'd coo over while I was overlooked!" The Witch screeched wildly as angry tears began to form. "Cast aside! The proof you forgot I was there was the day you went off and did what you did-"

"I think you should leave before you hurt yourself!" The Wizard yelled at her, pointing towards the door and making a motion to shoo her away with force if necessary. Instead, the Witch just inched forward.

"Years, and I've still never gotten over it! Why do you think I visit ever year?" she said in an eerily calm tone, "And now, here you are on the brink of a breakthrough, the pinnacle of your hard toil…How easy it would be to just…lift a finger…"

"NO!"

As the witch pointed a dainty finger at the cauldron, the Wizard lunged at her and knocked her to the ground. Her intended spell released, and the gunshot of blue plasma struck one of the Wizard's shelves of bottled minerals and ingredients. They splashed into the cauldron with a sickening electric blue explosion while the Wizard and the Witch were scuffling with each other on the floor to prevent the other from blasting spells in their faces.

It was only when the blue explosion became a flare of fiery red that blew out the Wizard's roof and into the night sky like a destructive beacon did they stop and stare.

* * *

The sound of Kovu barking madly at the front door was cutting into Faye's much-needed beauty sleep. Groggily, she pushed strands of her maroon-tinged locks out of her face as she reached for a light switch. However, when her vision came to focus, there was no way she missed the bright firelight pouring through her window.

 _Seriously? The Wizard does this kind of stuff at night?_

She strode over to the front door, where Kovu was pawing at the door nervously. She hushed him gently before stepping outside for herself. What she thought was just another simple spell or experiment gone awry was much farther from the truth than she thought.

From the near distance of the Wizard's tower from her farm, the clouds above were swirling dark where the beam penetrated what was thick black night. The sky had become rotten shades of green and yellow spreading over Stardew Valley with lightning bolts flashing through like white vines.

The sound of monstrous screeching met her ears. Days in the caves warned her of oncoming cave bats. Seeing a colony heading her way, she grabbed her Galaxy Sword beside the door in time to hack at them before they struck her face. Blood, guts, and a large number of bat wings splattered everywhere.

 _This is SO not normal._

She quickly changed out of her nightclothes into a pair of jeans and a white t-shirt, keeping her sword close at hand and, after stepping into her boots, strapping on her small pack, and pulling on a red flannel, ran out the door towards the stables. With a whistle, Faye jumped on her approaching horse, which neighed nervously.

"To the Wizard's tower, Pip!" And they raced through the well-kept fields. To Faye's dismay, more bats had arrived, destroying her crops and nipping at the two of them. She swung her sword, leaving entrails in her wake, though her white shirt now sported specks of blood from bat bites.

Upon reaching the grounds in front of the tower, the winds had picked up immensely like a hurricane without rain, and the murky yellow and green color had descended onto the town as mist. Faye found the Wizard squaring off against a wickedly-grinning Witch.

"What have you done?!" he yelled at her, revving up a spell in the palms of his hands.

"What I always wished I'd done every time you ignored me!" the Witch stuck out her tongue as she aimed a spell at the Wizard. He ducked sideways and crashed into Faye, who had dismounted and ran towards him. The spell impacted a boulder beside them.

"Young Faye!"

"Wizard! What's going on? What did you-?"

"No time to explain right now! Take this and make safe the town! I will draw the Witch away from here!"

At that, the Wizard shoved a particular large vial labelled **Barrier** into Faye's hands. She barely had time to register what was happening before the Wizard charged into the Witch. Before her eyes, the Wizard shoved the both of them through a portal in mid-air, effectively disappearing and leaving Faye in the increasingly windy fields.

She turned towards the direction of the town. Already, otherworldly monstrous sounds were echoing in the air mixed in with distant screaming.

She shoved the vial in her pack, jumped on her horse, and raced through the trees towards the nearest buildings of Marnie's ranch.

* * *

 _A/N: It's been_ _quite_ _a while since I've made any fanfiction, but my addiction to Stardew Valley had me thinking of writing one, especially one involving issues between the Witch and Wizard starting something catastrophic. However, I feel a bit rusty, but hopefully I'll pick it up in the next succeeding chapters nyehe._

 _This may or may not get darker. Constructive criticism and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome :3_


	2. The First Two

_**A/N:** Hi! Me again :3 Chapters from here on out might be a tad longer, but I'll try to keep them concise, I promise! Anyway, on to Chapter 2. Enjoy!_

* * *

The windows of Leah's cottage were broken in when Faye and Pippa reached the clearing. Faye jumped off and rushed inside, but aside from overturned furniture and decimated sculptures, Leah was not inside.

 _She probably ran off to Marnie's._

She hoped to find them all safe. The ill-colored mist was clogging up her nostrils and making it hard to breathe. But when a deep slash struck her leg, she swallowed some of the mist in pained surprise as blood ran anew down her leg. Behind her, a Shadow Brute had attacked her with a wide grin on its face.

 _Not these too._

Stumbling, Faye swung her sword and managed to damage the Brute. It staggered back, and before it had another chance to lunge at her again, she aimed for its head, effectively decapitating it. She looked down to her leg, reached into her pack for some bandages, and wrapped up her fresh wound. She had sustained injuries like this before, but she did not want a whole night's fill of them.

Marnie's livestock were not grazing within their compound like usual. Faye jumped the fence, and along with the thickness of the sickly mist, black smoke was mixing in like something was burning profusely nearby.

To her mixed relief, Marnie and Jas were pale, unconscious, and stuffed in brown sacks, hair a mess and scratches on their faces as far as Faye could see. She checked their pulses. Weak, but still beating. From within their house, snarling and growling were heard, and just then it was a miracle they weren't taken alive. However, both Leah and Shane were nowhere to be seen, so she headed towards the back. The mooing of Marnie's cows and the panicked clucking of the chickens and roosters became louder and louder the closer she went. She peered behind the back of the barn, and her eyes widened.

"…These things were always too much trouble," Shane was grumbling under his breath as he loaded more grain by the armloads he managed aimlessly. "And for all the help, that sorry bitch of an aunt never gave me much."

"And I've always imagined how beautiful destructive art could be," Leah grinned as she stood back and stared at a half-demolished stable with satisfaction, "I might actually try this for a living for a change."

There, Shane had shoved pipes into all the chickens and ducks, force feeding grain and corn at an alarmingly fast rate. In a manner of helping him, Leah had hacked away at the numerous silos and set fire to some of the coops and barns, and was now hammering down a stable and feeding trough to unusable bits. The animals were crying weakly as their stomachs bloated slowly but surely, and they staggered to the ground. Valuable animal feed and supplies littered the ground, wasted, and Yoba forbid Faye know where the large blood splatters on the grass came from. She fought back shocked tears. They _had_ to be under something.

"Shane! Leah! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she screeched desperately, her grip tight on her sword as she came out to face them. At once, the two whipped around. Their eyes were a cloudy, milky white, and their skin looked dry and scaly. Their clothes too were blood-spattered and ripped in some places.

"Uh, who's this?" Shane asked, his voice deep and gravelly as he surveyed Faye up and down.

"It's the Farmer girl," Leah answered briskly, "Strange. She looks like she's going to attack us."

"I will if you don't stop force-feeding those poor animals and tell me what you did with the real Leah and Shane!" Faye growled as she stepped closer, her sword held in front of her.

"Nothing. They're right here," Shane opened his arms warmly, a smirk on his face. This face-off at least gave the animals reprieve from their onslaught of food.

And Leah charged at Faye with an elongated carving knife. Faye's survival mode replaced her immense confusion as she clanked blade against knife in defense. In the two years or so that she's been living on farm, Leah had always been a kind soul. She would never decimate nature or other people's property like this. Not to mention even properly handle a knife or form of blade except for art, not combat. Shane, she could imagine doing something like this if he was disturbed enough maybe, but he loves the livestock to bits and pieces, especially the chickens. He would never harm them in such a cruel manner needlessly. For all his cold demeanor, he at least has a heart in that regard.

"You don't need to do this, Leah," Faye struggled at she searched for any trace of remaining humanity. "You don't have to kill things for the sake of art."

"You're always butting into other people's business, Farmer," Leah growled in a distorted voice as her knife edged closer and closer to Faye's neck. Despite the urgent need to turn around her disadvantageous position, Fate could not look away from Leah's savage image. "Leave us alone to find inspiration however we see fit."

In front of her eyes, Leah's face flashed black and scaly like a serpent monster taking over her body. Sharp white teeth glistened against a lightning bolt flash in the sky as they revealed themselves in a hungry grin. The surge of strength staggered Faye backwards when the realization hit her.

"You think you can take me?" she taunted. She was not addressing Leah directly, but rather that monster she just saw. It flashed again, and its body temporarily fitted to Leah's form.

"We need the Stardrops, and we're not letting a measly little farmer get in the way."

"Not if you're going to destroy the place."

And Faye headbutted Leah square in the forehead. As she staggered back, Faye regained her footing again. It was not long until something tightened suddenly around her neck.

Shane had thrown a lasso. With one strong yank, Faye was pulled onto the ground, releasing her blade as she gasped for air. and grasped at the rope. Light-headedness threatened to end her as Leah jumped at her preoccupation. Faye rolled to the side, missing the blow by inches. Shane began reeling her in like a fish, the noose on her neck strangling her.

"Finish her already!" he cried angrily. Grabbing a hold of her sword, Faye resigned herself to the worst solution and hoping to Yoba for the best as Leah charged towards her.

 _Forgive me, Leah._

She plunged her sword into Leah's chest, and an otherworldly screech emitted from her lips while her eyes flashed between pitch black and her normal color. Black shadows and mist seemed to lift from Leah's body and, along with it, the stab wound Faye had just inflicted. When the black smoke cleared up, Leah was there, lying on the ground and seemingly back to normal except she was still.

"Looks like I have to do things myself."

Another sharp tug on the noose, and Faye was flying backwards until there came a sharp slash to her back. Shane had gotten a hold of an additional scythe. As crimson splotches made themselves known anew on her clothes and the surrounding grass, Faye hacked at the rope with her sword, freeing herself from his grip. She made a mental note to create a Life Elixir should she survive this whole thing.

"I always believed you were a good person, Shane," she puffed as she regained composure, "You just always pushed everybody away." If she knew him enough in the little interaction she was able to get out of him since her time here, he was not all bad as he made himself out to be.

"When you're a societal failure like me, you just have to go your own way and not give a shit about everything else," Shane replied coolly, "Now, let's just end this short and sweet and I can get back to business. The loss of one right now won't affect anything."

The curved scythe proved a trickier adversary, grazing Faye's arm as Shane maneuvered behind her with surprisingly deft skill. She yelped in surprised and frustration and attempted to knock it out of his hands. What ensued was a hit-for-hit blade battle, her sword's hits easily deflected by the scythe's curvature.

When she finally slit his scythe arm, her instincts took over as she also aimed for his legs. Green blood spurted from his cuts like slime. At the slightest pause, she whacked the scythe away and stabbed Shane in the chest as well.

Like what had happened with Leah, black essences drifted up and away out of Shane's body until he left there, lying crumpled on the ground. Additionally, Faye shielded her eyes are something bright and purple emerged from him. When her vision adjusted, a Stardrop floated there, though instead of being the all-resplendent purple, it had black essences splotched onto it. Hesitatingly, she reached and grabbed it. When it offered no resistance, she carefully placed it into her pack.

Relief came over her when she saw Shane stirring in front of her. Behind her, Leah let out a low groan. Quickly, Faye brought them both over together and grabbed water from her pack.

"I can't believe all that just worked," she murmured, a small smile forming on her lips as Shane and Leah drank up desperately. When they had their fill, they look around in panic.

"What happened? The farms and barns are all destroyed!" Shane wailed in despair as he rushed over to the overly-bloated animals. They recoiled at his approach, but the warm touch and care they associated with him had returned, and they relaxed albeit weakly.

"I don't remember coming out this way," Leah said quietly, fighting back tears of shock, "I was just finishing up another sculpture before bed. Not getting out and demolishing buildings." Faye sighed in relief. Their eyes and voices had also returned to normal.

"Would you believe it if I said the both of you did all this?" Faye asked tentatively. Leah and Shane looked at her with a myriad of confused emotions. Faye tried to explain it as simply as she could muster, "I think...you guys were possessed, or something...I had to stab you in the chest to get whatever they were out of you...Both of you tried to kill me. And Shane...when I got you in particular, a Stardrop appeared, so I took it. And now you both are back to normal." When their eyes could not widen anymore, Faye stepped back sheepishly, hands in the air. I hope I didn't bang you guys up too bad."

"No wonder my chest is killing me," Shane said as he rubbed it vigorously. He looked around at the scattered and wasted animal supplies, shaking his head in sorry disgust. He looked back to the animals, who nuzzled up to him as he took away the force feeding equipment and began to soothe them. "And I did this to you...I'm so sorry."

"How about Marnie and Jas? Are they okay?" Leah asked worriedly. Faye had almost forgotten about them.

"I'm not sure. They were unconscious and stuffed in sacks when I saw them," she answered, "We should probably go check on them."

"I'll go. If Shane and I attempted to stop you by trying to kill you for whatever reasons, who knows how everybody else is doing," Leah volunteered.

"You don't remember what happened before all of _this_ happened?" Faye asked, gesturing to the still-burning mess. The two went still and quiet for a bit in thought.

"I blame that green-and-yellow mist shit," Shane snarled, "It came through the house, and Marnie, Jas, and I couldn't help but breathe it in when it got too thick. Went black after that."

"That happened with me too. I tried covering my nose, but nothing worked," Leah sighed, "This isn't normal. Go ahead to town Faye. We'll catch up somehow."

"Take care until then," Faye replied. She looked down at the Galaxy Sword she sheathed again before walking off in the direction of town. _It really IS unlike anything I've ever seen._

"Hey Faye."

She whipped around at Shane's call.

"Sorry about what we did." Faye just let out a surprised exhale and smiled at him through her cuts and bloodied clothes.

"Don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault."

She never considered herself _that_ much close to the community that she would have to save it from all this, whatever this was. It had only been two years, yet she still felt a bit awkward trying to fit in with a community so tight-knit since who-knows-when. Although everybody seemingly welcomed her with open arms, she always wondered to herself if she was intruding on well-kept peace. Thanks to Grandpa, she had pretty big shoes to fill, what with the farm and community. But was it really her place?

Shaking her head to rid herself such thoughts, she ran off towards Pippa, who was stomping on the ground nervously still. The confusion that left her before her spat with Leah and Shane was returning as she got on her horse.

 _How in the world did they end up possessed like that? Did those monsters need to hide Stardrops inside someone? That_ thing _said it needed all the Stardrops. How many are out there_ _...?_

The only thing she could conclude for now was that she had to get to the bottom of what the rest of the town was going through.

 _Am I meant to do this?_


	3. House of Illusion

Stardew Valley had become a ghost town. Aside from the mist everywhere, the strong winds had blown trash around, uprooted a few unfortunate trees, and utterly destroyed Evelyn's well-kept gardens. The slight outpouring of monsters did not help at all. Walking aimlessly around town were Shadow Brutes and Metal Heads while more Cave Bats flew overhead.

Faye jumped off her horse. "Pippa, go home. It's too dangerous here. Go back to Shane and the others. If they get the message, bring them back to the farm." And Pippa turned around and galloped away, leaving Faye to face the town armed with just her pack and her sword. She turned towards the first building: Sam's house. And quiet guitar jamming was coming from inside it.

Her stomach churned. She always found Sam kinda cute. In all the times she hung out with him, Sebastian, and Abigail during their band practices, his awkward mannerisms were somewhat charming. Of course, she never let anyone on about her thoughts. Their history together, along with Penny, went way too far back for her to compete with, and given that she was still a relatively fresh face here, that was fine with her. If she had to deal with a possessed Sam, she prayed for nothing unpleasant.

Upon opening the door, she had to blink a few times out of disbelief. She found herself stepping into a lush field. The skies had become clear blue, and the stormy winds had died down to a pleasant breeze. The air itself was thick with the light smell of flowers that carpeted the field, a welcome scent after being clogged with smoke and haze. In the distance, she saw two figures sitting on patches of grass. Real quick, she glanced back at the front door she came through before running off to see who they were.

Jodi was relaxed on the grass, fingering some of the lavender and daisies on the ground. Nearby, Vincent was sprawled out on the ground, breathing deeply as he drifted in and out of sleep. Faye slowed her pace, still keeping an eye out for either Sam or Kent.

"Jodi?" she inquired tentatively, coming up behind her. She did not stir, and Faye began fearing for the worst, her head becoming fuzzy as she took a closer look. Jodi's eyes were glazed over trance-like, yet her expression was serene. Faye prodded her gently and received only a blank smile and stare. Faye shuddered as she turned to Vincent. Every step she took became heavier and heavier. "Vincent?"

He, too, was not stirring. It seemed like he was taking a peaceful nap as the flowers around him tickled him to sleep. Faye fought off the glare of the sun overhead and the fuzzy edges of her vision as she searched hard for Sam. Finally, she spotted him and staggered over to the tree in which he sat in, playing his guitar. He was zoned out and definitely in his own world.

"Sam!"

To Faye's slight relief, he looked around until he finally spotted her.

"Oh. Hi Faye," he greeted warmly, flashing a smile, "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Faye answered shakily, trying to keep her composure, "How did we end up here?"

"I thought I could give my mom the rest and relaxation she's always wanted while providing a place to play for Vincent," Sam explained, "My old pop might not make it back from the war. It would be up to me next to take care of my mom and little brother." Faye flinched hesitatingly. She knew Kent had already returned. But yet, he was nowhere to be found.

"But Sam...Your dad DID come back." Sam shook his head as he went back to jamming on his guitar.

"Since my mom's letter from him, we haven't heard from him again," he said nonchalantly, "It's been so long. We've all assumed the worst."

"Sam, just come with me," Faye said gently, an encouraging look on her face a she gestured towards the front door she came in, "Wanna go look?"

"Nah. I think we're fine here," Sam vigorously shook his head. Faye's eyes narrowed as she looked desperately around for any sign of Kent.

Soon enough, the flowers of the field began striking her as odd. She plucked one off the ground, and after some observation, her mental alertness spiked through the haze. The dandelions she held seemed to amplify the hallucinogenic effect everywhere she went. She quickly shook her head, yanked Sam out of the tree by the arm, and sprinted for the front door.

"Where are we going?!" he yelled frantically, fighting to pull back. They were already a few feet away from the door.

"Let's go out Sam! We have to!" Faye answered curtly, "It's not healthy here!" Sam yanked her backwards and caught her by her arms.

"No, I can't! You're my friend, Faye, but I owe this to my family!" he cried, looking at her tearfully. He ducked to run back, but Faye held him still. His eyes were flashing milky white, and his skin and usually-fabulous hair were becoming slimy to the touch.

"We can bring them too! Let's GO Sam!" she urged, egging on the monster inside, "Your dad wouldn't want you to feel like you have to take care of them on your own like this."

"He would rely on me to keep them safe! I can do this on my own!" Sam protested angrily, shaking Faye by her arms. Frustration shone on her face at his stubbornness when she had an idea and sprinted out of his grasp.

She felt him chasing after her, and she pushed faster towards the tree. There was no time to turn around and taunt him. She grabbed Sam's guitar and promptly smashed it as hard as she could upon the tree.

 _I'll buy you a new one, Sam. I promise._

As an added bonus, another Stardrop appeared where the fragments of guitar landed. Frantically, Faye grabbed it and stashed it in her pack.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

Sam's voice was now gravelly and distorted as he screeched after her. Readying herself, Faye unsheathed her sword. A monster had replaced Sam's form and was immediately charging after her. After looking back to make sure Jodi and Vincent were well out of their way, Faye headed for the front door again.

"Come get me!" she taunted, grinning wickedly as she ran, "Kill me and you can get a new guitar."

"With pleasure."

At once, Faye felt multiple somethings snap against her skin like snapped strings. She stumbled from the shock as gigantic welts began appearing on her skin, some of them reopening old wounds. She awkwardly rolled to the side as she missed another attack by a pouncing Sam. With a swing, her sword struck him in the abdomen. Green blood spurted everywhere, and Sam's frustration refreshed as Faye fought back to her feet and ran again for the door. To her great delight, it was thrown open.

"Faye! Run!"

Kent had appeared at the door, surprisingly alive and well. He was beckoning to them as frantically as he could. It pushed Faye faster until Sam, who had unsheathed a small knife, grabbed her by the ankle with a vine as thin as a guitar string. It cut through like it threatened to slice it off. Blood was slowly drawn as Faye hacked through the vine, receiving a slash to the arm too dangerously close to her wrist from Sam. Effectively, she lost some feeling in her arm and foot.

Kent reached into the door and yanked Faye outside. The beautiful flower fields immediately disappeared, the sunny blue skies returned to sickly green, yellow, and black, and the stormy winds whipped her hair around once again. Catching her breath, she scrambled to look back into the house.

It had returned to normal, almost. Kent was wrestling with a demonic Sam in their living room. To her horror, Jodi was stroking a Grub in the process of becoming a Cave Fly, and Vincent was surrounded by Metal Heads. Faye lunged and struck each of them as hard as she could, and bug guts and ore littered the once-clean carpet. Her ankle ached from being near amputated, and it buckled from the weight of her body. Another swing of her sword this very moment, and she was bound to lose her balance.

"Kent! Catch!"

She tossed her sword at him, which he caught with one hand. Faye reached up and locked Sam's arms back, and with tears in his eyes, Kent shanked Sam in his open chest.

The familiar black essence did not dissipate like smoke from Shane and Leah, but pooled onto the floor in a slimey puddle. With Sam's dead weight, Faye collapsed, holding him on the ground as Kent hovered over him, eyes red from tears and shock. Her heart pounded uncomfortably. She never thought of facing, let alone holding, Sam like this. She steadied her hitched breathing and felt a weak pulse in Sam's neck.

And finally, a few sputtered coughs from Sam and he woke up, nearly unscathed now that the demonic essence had disappeared. Kent chuckled in teary relief as he scooped Sam into a hug, which he returned with equal thankfulness.

"I thought I lost you all, Sam," Kent cried into Sam's shirt, his voice muffled, "I leave for Zuzu for a bit and then all this happens."

"I don't know what happened, pop," Sam choked, "I was just taking care of mom and Vince while you were out and-." Faye, feeling incredibly awkward, shifted attention to her ankle. She ripped off a piece of her white shirt to bandage it up before she quietly turned to Jodi and Vincent. They were coming to, and when their vision cleared, they were soon all in one large family hug. Faye smiled to herself. They were lucky to be alive and together. She could not remember the last time she had hugged her own parents. It now seemed ages upon ages ago.

Her arm throbbed, reminding her of the near-fatal slash on it. Ripping off another piece of shirt for bandage, she found herself having awkward difficulty getting it tied.

"Here. Let me get that."

Sam had approached and took the scrap from her, tying it up securely around the wound.

"Impressive. Didn't know you could tend wounds," Faye chuckled, trying to keep cool amidst her feeling incredibly flustered.

"He taught me," Sam admitted quietly, jerking his head in Kent's direction. He was tending to Jodi and Vincent.

"Sam, go with her and check on the town. I'll take care of your mother and brother," Kent said curtly. Sam's eyes widened.

"Pop! Really?" In reply, Kent threw him a pistol and a cutlass.

"You're ready Sam. I've taught you enough before."

"Kent, if you want, head over to my house on the farm with Jodi and Vincent and stay out of here a while," Faye offered, "Stay safe."

"Thank you. And you two as well," Kent smiled weakly, "Now get going." Faye and Sam nodded and headed out into the town. Upon sight, Sam just stared at the town still descending into complete shambles.

"What happened here?" he asked quietly. Faye sighed readily, relaying the story in her head.

"I'll fill you in eventually, but how confident are you with that blade?" she asked him, a weak smile as she put up with her bandaged joints. Sam gave a few test swings.

"Pretty confident, I think," he answered, "If anything, I won't let you go through this alone if I can help it."

"Thanks. Let's go."

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** _Gonna see about maybe expounding the subdued feelings later on :) In the meantime, gotta keep to juggling online classes and writing to keep this up. Hope you enjoyed! :D_


	4. Unthinkable

Sam and Faye did not have to go far at all. It was quiet in Haley's and Emily's house. Too quiet. With a quick look at each other, they went around and peered through the windows.

It seemed relatively normal in the kitchen. Gus and Clint were seated at the table, and Emily was serving them some food she cooked on the stove. Her cheerful smile was still in place and Gus was chatting excitedly with Clint, almost too suspicious for natural.

"Do you see Haley anywhere?" Faye whispered, careful not to attract their attention.

"No. Maybe she's in her room," Sam replied back, straining his neck carefully to try peering into their living room.

"Faye. Sam."

The two whipped around. Shane approached them, sneaking quietly as he rushed to their sides.

"Shane! Are you alright? What are you doing here?" Faye asked as she inspected him for any visible injuries. Like Sam, he had little to none.

"I'm fine. Sent your horse along with Leah, Marnie, and Jas to your place. Nothing's going on over there, so it's the safest bet so far," Shane assured her, "I thought I'd help out with checking on the town. What's going on here?"

"Emily's having a VERY late dinner or early breakfast with Clint and Gus. We haven't seen Haley," Sam informed. Shane eyed the front door, reached up, and quietly turned the knob. All three of the held their breath until they heard the door click open.

"I'll check on Emily and the others. You guys can look for Haley," Shane planned, his gaze averted sideways, "With luck, she's just looking at herself in the mirror."

As silently as they could, they edged through what opening in the door they made before it squeaked. To their relief, the trio in the kitchen did not notice. The alluring smell of cooked food wafted in the air, suddenly attacking the three of them with how hungry they were. Shaking off the feeling, they returned to their main aim and split up, crouching through the furniture. Faye and Sam settled beside Haley's bedroom door, looking back at Shane, who was down near the kitchen entryway. With a last look at each other, they inched forward, Faye carefully opening Haley's door. They recoiled in horror.

Haley was indeed standing in front of her mirror, clad in her underwear. She had a knife in hand, and she was hacking away at her stomach, thighs, arms, and face. An anguished, teary look was plain on her face as she desperately cut away at her body, sobbing desperately. Small chunks of skin and blood adorned her floor in blackened crimson. Her usually-flawless blonde hair was in gory disarray, and she was nowhere near letting up.

"Oh my god, Faye," Sam whispered hysterically as he swallowed down bile, "Why is she doing this?"

"That's not her Sam. She's not THAT desperate to stay youthful," Faye answered, fighting down her disgust, "Get what's left of her body. I'll get at the knife. Go!"

They both charged inside. Haley had barely a second to register what was happening before Sam grabbed her arms from behind. In front of her, Faye fought to yank the knife from her grip.

"What are you two idiots doing?! Leave me alone!" she screamed, tears streaming down her face as she kicked and thrashed against Sam's hold on her.

"Hurry up Faye! She's really slippery!" Sam groaned. Finally, Faye held the bloodied knife in her hands and ran out the bedroom door. Haley balled up her fist and smacked Sam in the groin, effectively escaping from his grip as he crumpled to the floor. She tackled Faye to the ground, who was hampered by living room furniture. In the kitchen, there was a scuffle as well.

"Sam! Get up!" Shane was screaming as he battled against Emily, whose demeanor became like that of a Stone Golem as her eyes shone neon green. Clint and Gus were passed out at the table, the food in front of them botched. Sam crawled out of the bedroom, struggling to get up.

"I'm working on it. Haley got me good."

Meanwhile, Faye was being overpowered by the now skeletal-looking Haley, whose rubied eyes burned through her sapphire orbs.

* * *

 _Faye's eyes fluttered open. Her body was sore everywhere from the beating she received moments before she blacked out. When her consciousness fully returned, she found herself struggling against tight bonds of rope that held her against a mass of pipes. She was undoubtedly in an old warehouse with whoever it was that lured her here._

 _"Mom…? Mom!"_

 _"Faye! Oh Yoba, you're alive!"_

 _Opposite Faye was her mother's lithe form blindfolded and tied in chains by her wrists and ankles. Her rich chestnut hair hung in limp waves over her face. The warehouse was dark save for sparse lighting that allowed her to see within a small distance._

 _"Finally awake, are you?"_

 _A figure with unruly hair and a cape over his shoulders appeared, the glint of spectacles flashing against the warehouse light. Faye's eyes narrowed._

 _"Morris...LET US OUT OF HERE!"_

 _"Now, now, not so fast," he cooed evilly as he approached her, "I know of the plans you have to assassinate me, but even having your sorry human of a father handing you assignments has GOT to wear down sometime."_

 _"I came here for my mother, not you," Faye spat in his face, "Let her go. She doesn't have anything to do with all this."_

 _"I can't let an opportunity like this pass," Morris grinned wickedly, "One of the top IT programmers and hackers in the city with a real killer instinct in my grasp? I could make you a VERY rich woman, more so than whatever measly change your superiors pay you with."_

 _"I'm not into your corporate rat races, employing dirty tactics to exploit workers to the ground," rejected Faye sharply, "You're no better than slavers." Morris sighed._

 _"Well then, how would THAT answer leave your poor mommy here?" he whispered in her ear. He promptly turned around and began fingering Faye's mother around the neck. Faye saw her flinch, beads of sweat forming._

 _"Don't you touch her!" she screamed as her mother whimpered the closer Morris's fingers brushed her chest._

 _"I've got tags on you...your family...your friends…" he trailed off tauntingly, "Heck, I've even knocked off the last few pests you've sent at me. You'd be quite surprised how much reach I have over little cockroaches like you." And in a flash, he grabbed at her mother's shirt, ripping it open to expose her taut, toned body. Both women immediately reacted._

 _"You perv!"_

 _"LEAVE HER ALONE!"_

 _Morris only cackled as he began toying with her mother's stomach. She flinched as his face came inches from her own. Faye, tearing up, shuddered and sighed._

 _"Fine, you pig...You got me." Morris smirked._

 _"Good."_

 _And the warehouse filled with anguished screams of helpless violation._

* * *

Tears had blurred Faye's vision, and her strength holding Haley at bay gave out. At once, Haley clawed away at her face until Sam appeared and threw her against the wall. Haley let out a demonic snarl as she prepared to pounce on them.

"You set those thoughts in my head," Faye murmured darkly, her glare venomous. Haley howled in laughter.

"Can't hide what you are," she snarled. Sam started forward until Faye stopped him.

"Help Shane with Emily, Clint, and Gus. I got this one." Sam took one glance and immediately headed for the kitchen as Faye engaged a now skeletal and devilish Haley in an all-out brawl. Her sword had fallen clean on the fluffy carpet.

"Shane! What happened?!" Sam yelled, looking at the slumped-over Clint and Gus at the table. The food in front of them was bleeding a rich indigo.

"Food poison with textile dye," Shane stuttered as he dodged a knife slash from Emily, "Drag Clint and Gus somewhere safe in this house while I get this one." Immediately, he and Emily crashed into the dining table, knocking it over as they scuffled.

Sam tossed Clint and Gus's torsos into Emily's open bedroom. Taking a hint from what had happened to him, he grabbed at Emily's dropped knife. Shane was already succumbing to Emily's obvious prowess when Sam charged and stabbed her in the back. He and Shane staggered back as Emily emitted a high-pitched shriek. A black vapor wafted from her mouth as she collapsed, finally subdued.

"Nice timing," Shane huffed as he and Sam hovered over Emily's still body. Sam nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, thanks," he said in slight amazement. They looked at their handiwork until their senses came to.

He and Shane dashed to the living room and they could not help but hold back an amused grin. Faye was on Haley's back, yanking at her hair with one hand and punching her face with the other as he legs locked firmly around her torso. Haley was screeching bloody murder as she managed to double over and throw Faye onto her back on the ground. She pounced began scratching away at Faye's torso until Faye fought back, sheer ferociousness on her face as she began mauling Haley in the face. Sam and Shane quickly went from amused to horrified.

"You're not gonna prey on Haley either," she spat with each punch per word. And with each punch, more black dotted the carpet. Just when Haley could not get any bloodier, Sam stopped Faye mid-punch and took her aside as Shane dragged Haley away from her.

"You got her already, Faye," Sam said quietly as he set down a still-boiling Faye on the couch, "Breathe. Calm down."

Faye shook as she fought to catch her breath. She had never been provoked like that in years. The thought that she was still that much vulnerable forced her to choke back hot, angry tears.

"Are you alright?" Sam's voice cut through her thoughts. She nodded, exhaling sharply.

"Yeah. I'll be fine," she told him quietly. She cracked a weak smile, "Haley was just scary."

"Faye, I think this is for you," Shane called out, "I can't take it out." Peering around, Sam and Faye saw a Stardrop glowing dully in a corner of the room, black and looking discarded. She got up slowly and took it gingerly before she went over to her abandoned pack, put it away, and grabbed two bottles. As she expected, groans of awakening echoed quietly in the still house.

Sam ran over and helped Emily to the couch as Shane crutched Haley over. As they came to, Faye handed them the two bottles.

"Here, drink up. You REALLY need these," she said gently, "Especially you, Haley." Haley was lying across the couch, nursing her head as she and Emily took the bottles and drank.

"What is this? It's amazing!" Emily grinned despite being quite bruised.

"Life Elixirs. Learned how to make those after a few trips to the mines," Faye explained, pushing the last few moments out of her mind, "Feeling better?" Emily nodded enthusiastically.

"Ugh. My hair's terrible. AND I'M NAKED!" Haley wailed as the realization hit her after her body recovered. She jumped up and sprinted to her room, slamming the door. Everybody could not help but chuckle quietly in the dark light of things.

"Em, lemme know when that girl's all done," Shane told her, jerking his head in Haley's direction, "We gotta get you guys and those two outta there." Faye jumped up.

"Gus! Clint! What happened to them?"

"Poisoned, but it's not too lethal." She then ran into the bedroom with another bottle in hand.

"Go on ahead. Got a bigger load here," Shane directed at Sam. He nodded in acknowledgement as Faye returned.

"They'll be coming to soon," she said, "Let's go." And with a hug from Emily, she and Sam headed out. The harsh wind was, at this point, much-needed fresh air.

"Sure you'll be alright? You can always talk if you need to," Sam nudged Faye gently, sporting his genuine smile. Faye could not help but smile back.

"Thanks Sam. I appreciate it a lot," she said in her steadiest voice.

Her mind, however, was chaotic. Memories that she had safely tucked away unleashed themselves like an opened Pandora's Box of nightmares. Even more, her pack felt five times heavier with three tainted Stardrops in tow. Aside from getting away from the humdrum of office work, she came to Stardew Valley for a fresh start from everything. From her past life. And from people who knew.

 _Not. Again._

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Those "XX Years" years DEFINITELY left a lot for imagination :) I've always wanted to try attempting to write some darker stuff, and for now, this is what I came up with. Hope you enjoyed!_


	5. Volatility

More colonies of cave bats screeched overhead as Sam and Faye snuck around the corner of Haley's house and looked out towards the town square. It was crawling with monsters as it had been earlier. In the near distance, the saloon's door was ajar.

"Wanna check it?" Sam whispered nervously.

"I'm NOT in the mood to deal with Shadow Brutes and Metal Heads though," Faye muttered, thinking quick. She turned back around, rummaged through her pack, and in no time held a bomb in her hand. "Thing is, Gus is already in Emily's house, so the saloon should be empty. I think we should just beeline for the clinic after I chuck this bomb."

"Seriously?" Sam's eyes widened with a disbelieving chuckle. Faye snickered incredulously at herself as well as they snuck to the other side of the house towards where Evelyn's gardens and the empty lots were.

"I know it's a long shot, but maybe it can distract those creatures while we sprint for it," she said readily as she stood and heaved the ticking bomb towards the lot. As she predicted, the monsters nearby ran for it.

Taking the cue, the two of them ran for it, and by the time monsters noticed undecimated humans behind them, Sam and Faye had shut the door closed behind them in Dr. Harvey's clinic. It was dark inside save for a light coming from one of the back rooms. A loud explosion outside made them jump.

"That better have killed some of them out there," Faye said, peeking out the lobby window. Indeed, there was a small scene of guts and resources she would have snatched up on a normal day.

"Harvey's either there or upstairs," Sam noted, "I hope there's nothing hiding out in here."

"That, or more hostages," Faye muttered as they stepped carefully around the dark lobby. As they headed slowly towards the light in their present dark in fear of hiding monsters, their walking slowed, vision began blurring, and their skin began itching.

"Is it just me or,.?" Faye started, gasping slightly for air.

"No, it's not...my lungs, and...my nose," Sam wheezed as he clutched at his chest.

"The air…! Go for the light!" Faye choked as they lurched forward on limited air. Their chests tightened and their heads throbbed the longer they dared not to breathe. They pushed their way through the door: one of Harvey's patient rooms. When they took a cautious breath of air, it was clean, and they both immediately doubled over and began to take it all in large gulps.

"Oh, it didn't get them. They figured it out."

"Maybe something more immediate next time."

When air circulated in their lungs again and everything came back into focus, Maru and Harvey were leering down at Sam and Faye curiously. Sam and Faye looked up at them when their vision cleared, still reeling from the onslaught of poison. Their eyes were both pitch black. Behind them was a slew of glass beakers and flasks, some filled with colored liquids and placed over activated bunsen burners.

"Mustard gas," Faye murmured.

"They're practically committing suicide. We're kinda done for whether or not we get out of this room," Sam griped. The gas has become a faint yellowish color in the light spilling outside of the room. True enough, the distance from the back to the entrance was a long stretch.

"I'm impressed. They know some chemistry," Maru snickered, doing a slow clap.

"I have the switch to turn on the vents to dispel all the gas, but first, a test," Harvey grinned as he gestured towards the now-chemistry table, "Get it all done right, not only will I switch on the vents, but I will give you this." And out of his pocket appeared the corrupted Stardrop. Faye jumped at the sight of it. It was way too easy.

"Are you serious? You're insane!" Maru protested, her voice raspy as she grabbed at the Stardrop. Harvey danced out of her reach.

"That's it? A simple chemistry exam and we got it?" asked Sam incredulously. He looked to Faye, who was equally just as anxiously pale.

"Yes. Now get going over there," Harvey ushered them, "We either asphyxiate here or get the chance to survive." With no other choice or idea, Sam and Faye took up their positions at the table, which had similar chemicals and equipment.

"Alright. What do we do?" Faye asked darkly, trying to hold in her frustration. This was taking up too much time where she could just stab them down and be done with it.

"Take up that bit of ammonium nitrate there and crush it to powder with that pestle," Harvey instructed. As the two got to pounding, he added, "It's such a good thing you came to town, Farmer. The availability of fertilizers is so helpful."

"You're welcome. Now what?" Faye spat. The fumes emitting from everything in front of her was not failing in making her head hurt. The sooner that were done here, the sooner they could all get fresh air. _Is this just gonna end as a slow death?_

"Pour all that into the beakers of clear liquid I've generously laid out for you," Harvey went on. Maru stifled a giggle of excitement as both Sam and Faye did so. The reaction was immediate, and the mixture was already changing colors.

"Now, take those beakers and turn around with them so that Maru and I may see how you did," Harvey finished, his black eyes glinting with malicious excitement matching his sneer.

As the two did so, Faye gave Sam a look of distrust towards Harvey, Maru, and the mixture in their hands. The fumes seemed to help him get the message across as they both faced the two. The next few moments flashed in an instant.

Maru and Harvey made a sudden dive to smack the beakers in Sam's and Faye's faces. At the same time, they threw the mixtures into Maru's and Harvey's faces. The contact proved correct in their guesses. Maru's and Harvey's faces immediately began to burn and blister as they clutched them in pain, shrieking bloody murder as Faye and Sam stepped back and began looking around for the vent switch and arming themselves.

"You SHITS! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Harvey bellowed, his voice cracking in between the hissing of smoke emitting from his skin.

"Never trusted you," Faye replied smoothly, "That's all."

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Sam screamed in panic, wielding his cutlass as Faye toyed near the patient bed for the vent switch. Maru and Harvey were crumpled on the floor as the same familiar black essences oozed out of them like slimy liquid, Their skin was becoming blotchy and smokey in radiant shades of yellow, red, and black.

"Nitric acid. Irritates the lungs, burns through skin, all that beautiful stuff," she replied, her voice muffled by the pillows smushed in her face as she reached down to reach the switch. "That clear liquid he had us pour into was hydrochloric acid." With a flick of the finger, the faint whirring sound brought some comfort as the mustard gas outside began to thin.

Maru and Harvey suddenly pounced, their forms demonic and vicious. Harvey's new claws sank into Sam's back, resulting in a surprised yelp and thrashing around in the patient room. Faye found herself tangled up with Maru, who attempted to drive her sharpened teeth into Faye's torso. She grabbed at the Stardrop and tucked it into her pocket for the time being as she drew her sword and hacked at Maru's stomach.

At the same time she was immediately flung towards the room door, Harvey was sent flying into the patient bed, both unconscious. Both cutlass and Galaxy Sword were pointed at them, their bearers hunched over in throbbing discomfort.

"They just tried to maim us," Sam mumbled uneasily, "I hope we didn't permanently disfigure them." They both inched towards Maru's and Harvey's still bodies gingerly.

"I think they'll be fine," Faye muttered back. The black essences soon materialized in front of their eyes into two Void Spirits. Before they could charge their magic, the two blades hacked them in halves that dissipated almost immediately.

"Not sure what's worse tonight. Haley chopping herself up or these two running dangerous chemistry experiments," Sam thought aloud, "What else could go on tonight?"

"Don't hold your breath. We haven't seen anything of Abi, Seb, Penny, and the others yet, Sam," Faye reminded him as she poked the unconscious Maru in the shoulder.

Upon turning Maru's and Harvey's bodies over, Sam and Faye laughed in relief. Their acidic burns and blotchy skin had disappeared, leaving them close to normal again. When they finally came to, they sat up.

"Faye, Sam. What are you doing here?" Harvey asked, puzzled. They looked at each other.

"It's a long story, Doc. We need to get out of here," Sam told him quickly. Faye shook her head.

"Not before we tend to your back. My god..." There were 10 puncture wounds visible, and the proof was spilling crimson all over his shirt. Sam waved it off.

"It doesn't feel that deep." Maru ushered him on the bed, and after some slight protesting, he laid out on his stomach and she peeled off his bloody shirt. She examined it as Harvey grabbed some supplies from a nearby rack and handed them to her.

"Sure, they're not deep. But untreated any longer and you could probably bleed to death," she told him in a semi-scolding tone. Faye bit back a smirk until she noticed Harvey observing her as well.

"And you, young lady, have been sustaining nasty wounds yourself. It's a good thing you know how to crudely wrap yourself up," he sighed readily, "I'll go ahead and re-patch this properly."

 _Thank Yoba my wounds don't require me to strip_ Faye thought to herself as her old and ragged bandages were taken off. Her wounds were mostly reduced to dull bleeding at this point in the night.

And with some quick work, wounds both new and old were rightfully restrained. It was not long after their medical deeds did the gravity of the situation begin to hit again.

"This place reeks! We need to get out of here," Maru coughed, scrunching up her nose at the faint smell of chemicals still in the air, "I don't know what's been happening tonight, but after seeing you two all banged up, I'm not so keen on knowing."

"This place reeks! We need to get out of here," Maru coughed, scrunching up her nose at the faint smell of chemicals still in the air,

"I don't usually allow this, but let's head upstairs to my place," Harvey suggested as he straightened his glasses, "All this gas will kept sunk down here. Get some towels and cover your mouths and noses."

After rummaging through the room cabinets, they braced their mouths, noses, and breath supply as they flung the door open and headed up the only flight of stairs in the building. Chlorine gas still hung in the air as they ascended. Upon walking into Harvey's room, they shut the door leading to the clinic and breathed in more fresh air.

"Now...We need to change out of these clothes," Harvey muttered. When the other three turned to look at him with skeptical looks, his eyes widened. "It's all safety precaution, I promise! It's not safe to let all these chemicals get absorbed into our skin."

"You have something women-sized?" Faye asked, cocking one eyebrow as Harvey already started chucking a set of clothes at Sam's face.

"I don't, but MAYBE we could sneak next door under such dire circumstances," he called back. He signalled to Maru, who nodded and threw open his bedroom window opening up to the second floor of Pierre's store.

"If we can get through to Abigail, maybe we can borrow her clothes for a while?" Maru proposed, shrugging and sporting a sheepish smile.

"You two are a REAL tag team," Faye grinned, impressed, "The town's lucky to have you running the clinic."

"Why do you think I keep her around?" Harvey beamed, wrapping an arm around Maru's shoulders, "Sam, are the clothes okay?"

"Yeah, but you should get more casual stuff, Doc," Sam answered behind them as he stepped out in a loose white button-up and gray jeans, "You can't really be semi-formal like this all the time." He strapped his cutlass and pistol securely as the four of them walked over to the window.

He strode beside Faye quietly. "Are you ever gonna tell them what they did?" Faye looked at him thoughtfully.

"Maybe someday, if we all live through this mess," she said, "You okay?"

"Considering all this, yeah. I think I'm good," Sam nodded as he rolled up his shirt's long sleeves, "You?"

"I'll feel better when I have a change of clothes," Faye chuckled quietly.

"Ladies first," Harvey offered, stepping aside from the window as they looked out, "You two can scavenge for clothes once you make the jump." He gestured to Faye and Maru.

The distance seemed doable. Faye looked out and targeted the flower box guarding the windowsill. "I'll go first, so wait for my signal just in case there's something there waiting to jump someone." The other three nodded and stepped back, allowing Faye space for a running start.

In actuality, she was already bracing herself for a potential attack from Abigail. With luck, facing her would be as easy as confronting Harvey and Maru. As if she was not uneasy enough, she remembers not seeing Abigail's parents anywhere. _Good Yoba, I hope Pierre and Caroline are okay._

* * *

 ** _A/N:_ **_Had to deal with being sick while writing this one out. I always thought Maru and Dr. Harvey were quite precious together (whether or not they were game canon). Hope you enjoy! :3_


	6. Parasitic Nuisance

Faye grimaced as she punched through Abigail's window. The glass shattered and she fumbled for the lock to finally open it wide enough to enter. She jumped in and scanned Abigail's empty room.

To her surprise, it was not ransacked at all. After checking her closet and in and around her furniture, there were no monsters in hiding either. She grimaced, however, at how much heavier her pack suddenly became after that jump. With a small fraction of time to herself, she peered at the Stardrops.

The four she acquired still had their eerie purple-black glow around them. She gave one of them a shake, and the black on it lingered momentarily in the air before attaching itself again to the Stardrop. To her horror, however, she saw as it slowly began to suck in what bits of the sickly mist hung in the room, and she began to feel it seep through her fingertips along with the Stardrop's black substance.

She dropped it in sudden fear before thinking twice and putting it back in her pack. The seeping feeling immediately disappeared, though gunshots, visions of blood, and her mother's screams began reverberating in her head. Fighting back tears and the threatening loss of her vision, she roughly shook her head and found herself again on solid ground in Abigail's room.

 _What is all this doing to me?_

At once, she went back to the window and signaled to Maru, Sam, and Harvey, who were waiting anxiously from Harvey's bedroom. Upon seeing her safe, they relaxed from their tense postures and Maru prepared to jump. Sam followed with slight clumsiness, and Harvey finished the line hanging on for dear life at the sil.

"Not cut out for the field, Doc?" Sam joked as he and Faye helped pull him inside.

"Not at all," Harvey muttered as he dusted himself off of leaves and twigs, "Only for fresh air and some sunshine."

"Abi's not here?" Maru asked, looking around wildly and proceeding to open the bedroom door. Faye stepped in front of her, sword drawn.

"Doesn't seem like it," she whispered, working to get her head back from her memories. Slowly, she reached for the door and suddenly flung it open. A chorus of screaming occurred at once. In front of them, Pierre and Caroline, obviously panicked and scared, had pistols pointed in Faye's, Maru's, Sam's, and Harvey's faces.

"GOOD YOBA YOU SCARED US!" Pierre exclaimed sharply, putting his pistol in its holster. He and Caroline were both none the worse for wear save for a few dirt smears and disheveled hair.

"Are you guys alright? Where's Abigail?" Harvey asked them as Faye tapped Maru discreetly on the shoulder and gestured towards Abigail's closet.

"Abigail's gone to the caves late yesterday. She hasn't been back since," Caroline answered in a shaky voice, "I hope nothing bad happened to her."

"Of all places to be at NOW…" Faye muttered frustratedly as she stripped through clothes in dark shades.

"She took her sword, didn't she?" Sam asked, "It's missing." Pierre nodded gravely in reply.

"Hey! What are you girls doing?" he asked as Faye and Maru stepped out in some of Abigail's clothing. Sam and Harvey bit back amused grins. Maru was clad in a plaid skirt and a band t-shirt while Faye sported a semi-midriff top and baggy pants. Both girls waved off the two guys and turned to Pierre and Caroline apologetically.

"Just borrowing some clothes. We'll replace them someday if you'd like," Faye assured them kindly as she tried to pull down her top, "In the meantime, you two better stay out of these monsters' way. You're lucky you lasted this long."

"Can we just stay in here? We've got food and some medical supplies, though probably not as good as the stuff you have, Dr. Harvey," Pierre asked nervously.

"I'll stay with you," Harvey suggested, "Maru, head out with Sam and Faye to check on the rest of the town."

"The next closest building other than the saloon would be Alex's house," Maru said as she looked out a window, "Bad news though: it's overrun." True enough, there were at least 10 Shadow Brutes lounging in front of the door with a new group of serpents lazing on the roof. Their faces all paled.

"Mayor Lewis's house then?" Sam proposed next. Faye and Maru nodded readily. "It's farther, but I think we can do it."

"I've got some cherry bombs here. We can clear the way while you run for it," Pierre said as he led them all to the store front.

"Ugh, I don't get the practical appeal of this," Maru whined quietly as she picked at her skirt. Pierre and Caroline gave her a look of agreement as they prepped their barricaded door.

"Gotta admire cartoon characters who can fight in such clothes," Faye scowled as Sam and Harvey just chuckled in the background, "Abigail has such good taste."

The first bomb explosion resounded in the air as Sam, Maru, and Faye rushed first towards the Saloon. When they were safely in the entrance bushes, they watched as the serpents on Alex's roof swooped down with the Brutes towards the clearing closer to the river.

"I think Mayor Lewis is doing well for himself too," Sam noticed, gesturing towards the house. Around its perimeter were dead monsters and resources for grabs. Faye looked closer and saw gunshot wounds.

"Did you WANT to be in the thick of things like this?" Maru asked her in a hushed voice. Faye scowled darkly.

"It wasn't exactly how I imagined getting my beauty rest," she answered with a tense smile, equally as quiet as she silently cursed her memory upsurge, "Let's go."

Just as they left, a yelp of surprise sounded among them. Maru was snatched by the leg, a serpent hiding in one of the bushes, and it slowly began to slither up her torso as she recoiled hesitantly. But before Sam or Faye could pull out a weapon, the serpent was shot clean in the head. They looked around wildly for the source once Maru was wildly released.

"Run kids! Get over here!"

"Lewis!"

He had thrown open his front door as the three of them ran inside. Lewis closed, locked, and barricaded the door behind them, a shotgun in his hands.

"You alright?" he asked, "That was quite risky what you did, running across town like that."

"We already did half the town. Why not the other half?" Sam told him as they caught their breath. To their surprise, the inside of Lewis's home was made up like a bunker. He had pitched guns near all of his windows and had stashes of food nearby as well. "You're doing pretty well for yourself though."

"Yes, but I wish I could do more for the town in that regard," Lewis said darkly, "Get some rest." Immediately, Faye dropped her pack to the floor and plopped onto the couch. For such a small thing, it was becoming almost unbearable. She looked to her shoulder and saw that it was already chafed on the verge of bleeding.

However, the amount of red blood she saw was mixed in with more black. She jumped in surprised and looked around semi-wildly. She caught Sam eyeing her distorted injury and quickly moved her shirt sleeve to promptly hide it. He looked at her, and she dismissed it with a look hiding her concern.

"Do you know if Elliott and Willy made it from the beach?" Faye asked, the window in front of her facing out towards the bridge, where it was still equally as dark beyond it.

"I haven't seen them," Lewis answered gravely, "I hoped they'd be able to make it. At this rate, I just hope they're still alive. There's been swarms of serpents coming in every now and then from the beach."

"Can we risk running out to the beach though?" Sam asked as he too looked out the window. He flinched as a cave bat rammed into the glass.

"I can clear out a path for you," Lewis said as he cocked another of his guns, "If serpents come up again, I've got your back."

"Do you need some help, Mayor?" Maru asked, "I can help keep monsters at bay for them too if you'll allow me to handle your guns." Lewis scrutinized her for a few seconds.

"Alright. I could use a pair of fresh eyes," he grinned.

"Not too keen on heading out?" Sam taunted jokingly. Maru punched him in the arm.

"That, and I don't think I'm properly dressed for it," she gestured to her clothing getup. He nodded in understanding, sporting an amused grin.

Lewis then looked at Faye. "You two up for this?" Sam and Faye exchanged looks.

"Yeah. We can check it out," Faye assured him with a nod, "But before we do, have you seen anything of Alex, Penny, or any more of the others?"

"No. Nothing yet," Lewis added quietly, "If Maru or I see them, we'll see what we can do to keep them safe."

"Thanks. You're a lot sharper than most of us take your for, sir," Sam beamed widely, earning rolled-eye smirk from Lewis. And before she made a move, he grabbed Faye's pack. "And I'll be taking this," he added quietly. Faye made a grab and he jumped out of her reach.

"It's fine. I can take it," she muttered as she finished up strapping her sword again. Instead, Sam flung it over his shoulder.

"Tough nuts. You ready?"

Lewis and Maru took up positions at the front window with guns in their hands. Faye stood up from the couch, determined to shake off her creeping dread. Her fingers tingled uncomfortably, which she combated by cracking her knuckles. "Yeah. Let's go."

Lewis cocked his gun readily and threw open the window after clearing his doorway.

"Here come some Brutes. At first shots, make a run for it."


	7. The Takeover

"As if life wasn't enough of an action movie!" Sam hollered amidst a hail of bullets.

"I don't want to think about that right now!" Faye grimaced as she fought to make sure she ran in a straight line. Ahead of them, Brutes were charging at them, only to be gunned down by Lewis and Maru behind them. And when serpents followed behind, the bullet storm doubled, and monsters were felled by the dozens. The wind was whipping up sharply, and they were nicked by flying leaves, twigs, and sand.

Upon reaching the beach, they stopped abruptly in their tracks. There was a waterspout formed near the beach dangerously close to Willy's shop. And as if the flying twigs, leaves, and sand were not threatening enough, swarms of serpents were coming in from the direction of the waterspout.

"Willy," Faye whispered fearfully, and they both dashed for the fishing shop. It creaked weakly as they rummaged through the broken display cases and up the store ladder. To their mixed relief, Willy wasn't there.

"Elliott's place," Sam said next as they ran back to the beach. To their shock and regret, Willy's shop and part of the supporting docks collapsed into the sea. They turned towards Elliott's cabin, which was surprisingly holding its own ground.

"Wait!" Faye dug through her pack on Sam's shoulder, taking out the Wizard's bottle of **Barrier**. Hoping it would work the way she envisioned, she uncorked it, poured some of its powdery contents into the palm of her hand, and flung it outwards.

Immediately, a glassy red screen expanded itself across the shoreline as far as they both could see. It stopped large incoming waves of monsters, but not all along with the wild winds. They gawked a few more seconds, and the barrier proved to stay put.

"That should be enough for now right?" she asked Sam unknowingly.

"I think so. Hordes won't be as bad!" he assured her, "Come on. We need to get to Elliott." Wanting to find him and seek shelter from the few oncoming serpents, they barged inside his cabin.

Elliott was hunched over his piano, almost maniacally, playing rapidly elegant pieces that pushed his fingers to bleeding. His usually-luxurious chestnut hair was in matted tangles, and his clothes were also patched and shredded in some parts. The look on his face was that of someone who was reaching a breaking point. Each note he played caused the winds to whip harder.

Promptly, Faye and Sam tackled him away from the piano, crashing into the table that held a typewriter, some paper, and bottles of black ink. As they all crumpled to the ground, Elliott glared at them, his eyes an icy blue and his lips curled into a snarl.

"What are you doing interrupting my art? My isolation?" he growled. He strode quickly back to the piano and began playing again. Droplets of black ink in the ground rose and formed themselves into needles. With a smashing pound on the keys, they flew and pierced the two regaining their footing. Spurts of blood dotted the floor. "I just had the best ideas for the greatest piece I could ever create."

"You don't have to lash out for inspiration!" Faye gasped from the blitz. In an instant, Elliott zoomed up to her face.

"This coming from someone who moved from the city to start life anew?" he spat, his eyes boring into hers. She fought to hesitate, but they cut her.

* * *

 _Faye was sprinting through the woods clad in athletic body armor under an adventurer's cloak, and behind her was a boy dressed similarly. As they both ran, a number of men was in pursuit wielding guns._

" _Faye! Catch!" the boy laughed as he threw a vial containing a piece of paper inside. He then ran up a nearby tree and flung a throwing knife, which struck its target in the throat._

" _Who knew they cared so much about exploitation papers?" she jeered. She, too, threw a throwing knife, and it halted in a crony's chest. "Emile! Don't hog all the fun."_

" _You rotten brats! You deserve what's comin' to ya!" yelled one as he fired off a few rounds. One grazed Faye in the leg, causing her to stagger._

" _Hey! You alright?" Emile called after her, "We're losing them!" Faye tossed the vial to him. Another gunshot, and she fell. Gasping in pain, her leg gushed a thin stream of blood._

" _Shit," she muttered as Emile landed beside her, "Get out of here, Emile. I can buy time for you to get away." A shower of bullets rapidly followed._

" _Not a chance. Let's go." He promptly scooped her up in his arms and began sprinting. "You've seen Joja's dirty work first-handed. That and these papers could put them down for good."_

* * *

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Faye bellowed as she headbutted Elliott. He landed on the ground, and Faye looked up to see Sam busy with a swarm of cave bats. She drew her sword and joined him.

"Did you get Elliott?!" he yelled as their blades swung everywhere. He promptly received a swipe to his face, adding to his numerous other gashes. To answer his question, Elliott snuck up and threw Faye against his cabin's wall.

"Not yet…" came the weakened response. The impact caused a hole in the wall and cracks that allowed parts of the roof to fly away.

"Don't you know, Faye?" Elliott growled maliciously as another flurry of ink arrows flew in all directions with the wind, puncturing black in everyone and everything. "Pain brings about the best art. For me, it's all the pent-up rage from a broken home."

Faye slashed at him as her thoughts began surfacing violently. "Did you always want to kill? You're better than this!"

"Say that after a life with an abusive alcoholic of a father, a junkie of a mother, and manipulative devils of siblings!" Elliott screamed as he bore through Faye's eyes again much to her extreme aggravation.

* * *

 _Emile was chained by his wrists to two trees in the far-off distance a good height from the ground. He had quit his struggle and hung there limp. Faye, who had been hampered by three bamboo traps, two pitfalls, and four assassins, dashed as fast as her tired body could muster. But just before she reached the clearing, she was swept up in a rope trap._

" _SERIOUSLY?!" she screeched as she fumbled in the net for a knife at her waist._

" _I'm afraid that won't work, little Faye. That net is made of a special spider web. You'll dull your pathetic blade just trying."_

 _Her frustration heightened when Morris appeared in the clearing. He looked up at her with a spiteful sneer._

" _Hand over the documents and I MIGHT consider letting your boy go free," he hissed. She saw a number of Morris's cronies lining the clearing with guns in their hands._

" _I don't have them!" Faye replied flatly as she revealed her empty pockets, "They're long gone."_

" _Is that so? I'm afraid the same shall goes for your boy here then," Morris said gleefully. Faye struggled against the net._

" _Emile! EMILE WAKE UP!" she cried desperately. She watched as he stirred, and his dulled green orbs found her blues._

" _Faye..?" Hi voice was riddled with torture and pain as he was gashed and bleeding everywhere now that she was much closer to him to see._

" _Emile! Just hang on! I'm here!" she tried to urge him._

" _I love you, Faye."_

 _And the shots rang out. Morris grinned up at Faye._

" _Happy 18th birthday, my dear."_

* * *

"EMILE!"

Tears were flowing freely as Faye swung at Elliott, her body taken over by blind rage and adrenaline. All she saw was black. She got him across the chest, and it began bleeding profusely a brilliant green.

"A family like mine can crush your hopes and dreams right into the dirt," Elliott murmured darkly, "But a past like yours can revive everything tenfold."

"You don't know _anything_ about me," Faye spat coolly. As she moved to strike him, her mind suddenly blanked out.

* * *

 _Her view began to jump like a silent movie as flashes of a young Elliott ran across her mind. She saw him running across the fields of a lavish house with a small book in his hands. Then she witnessed his mother, a stately woman with a lazy and lofty face, doing a line in front of him as Elliott seemed to try talking to her about his latest accomplishment. She only brushed him off, zoning out and no longer listening._

 _Faye then followed him to another room. His father, a tall man playing a façade in a suit, was lounging in an armchair, empty bottles of brandy surrounding him. Elliott was speaking up to him, but his father rebounded and began yelling at him like he was interrupting his time. At any chance of trying to speak up, Elliott got himself smacked, one finally forcing him to writhe on the ground._

 _A brother and a sister of his seemed to have come in, hearing the commotion. They were arguably a lot younger, looking four or five and still wondering about the world. As Elliott was left to his father's rampage, they picked up his self-made book and ripped it to pieces gleefully, sticking some of the pages to their mouths and using them as playthings._

* * *

Faye blinked rapidly.

"You saw a bit, didn't you?" Elliott asked her excitedly as he prepared for another attack at his piano. Another tauntingly lovely piece, and another wave of ink needles headed her way, and having enough, she grabbed a nearby book at the expense of her sword and flung it open. There, the needles splattered onto the pages to create ink blots. "And that was just the tip of the iceberg."

Seeing Sam grab the Galaxy Sword out of the corner of her eye, Faye slammed the book in Elliott's face and lunged at him.

"A rotten family is no excuse to hurt others!" she growled as she yanked at his hair, digging her nails into his scalp as he howled in pain and visual distraction. "Now Sam!"

And the shank through the back appeared. Elliott emitted an ear-splitting shriek as the long-held Stardrop drifted into the air from his wound. Faye snatched it as the exuding black from Elliott's puncture wound dissolved into dust and he collapsed. However, Faye continued to maul Elliott in the face, the blackened blood becoming scarlet.

Sam unsheathed the sword from Elliott's body in alarm and worked to pry Faye off of his unconscious body. What he got was a low snarl from a girl whose face went from being dead set on ending all this mayhem into something manic and demonic. Her eyes flashed red like fire, and the bloodlust was all too evident as she punched away.

"There is NO excuse for killing others. My past is no inspiration."

"Faye! I don't want to have to stab you too!" Sam grunted as he yanked on Faye by the arms. As the wind whipped up even harder around them, a bolt of lightning shot across the sickly sky.

It seemed to have done the trick. In an instant, Faye came to. The force of Sam's pull sent them flying into Elliott's bed with a toppling crunch. The cabin creaked warily until it all came tumbling down.

"Shit."


	8. Pandora's Box

_8-year-old Faye bit hard on her lip, her eyes closed tight. Strapped almost naked on her stomach to a table, she prayed for the snapping of the whip on her back to end soon. The single white light above her added more additional burning sensations as she fought back tears of immense pain._

" _This. Is what. You get. For disobeying me," hissed a voice in her ear with each whipcrack. Faye winced as she dared to open her eyes, seeing splattered specks of her blood through her tangled wine tresses. When the onslaught finally stopped, her assaulter then came up to her face._

" _I let you off easy, little girl," Morris snickered evilly as he ran a finger down Faye's spine, eliciting a few shivers, "You try this again, you won't be so lucky." And he walked away and closed the industrial iron door behind him. Almost immediately, she gave in to her fatigue and blacked out._

* * *

 _The sun shined bleakly through the heavy cream curtains when Faye found herself waking up in a large plush bed. That, and the cloud-white nightgown she wore, were the softest things she had felt in a long time. Her long hair had been brushed into its waves, and her body was visibly mending._

 _Her body jumped in surprise. Sitting beside her bed was a young boy of around 10 or 11 dressed in a white button-up paired with navy blue breeches and suspenders. His emerald orbs widened in equal surprise as he came close to toppling backwards in his chair._

" _You're awake," he whispered excitedly, a smile creeping on his face. Faye sat up cautiously, finally aware she was somewhere foreign. The room was large and ornate with windows reaching floor to ceiling, the sunlight bouncing off the crystal chandelier throwing rainbows all around. An elegant dresser, a changing screen, a small couch, and bedside tables with decorative lamps were the only furniture aside from the canopy bed._

" _Where am I?" she asked slowly, her body tensing reflexively._

" _Castle Village. My father and I found you in the woods not far from here," he answered softly, "You...were really hurt. What's your name?"_

" _...Faye. And who are you?"_

" _Emile. You don't have to be scared."_

 _The bedroom door swung open behind him, and a tall stately man appeared in a crisp gray suit. He had the same emerald eyes and straight black hair as Emile. Upon seeing the two of them, his initial stern features softened as he strode to the bedside._

" _Emile, making friends?" he asked kindly._

" _Yeah! Faye just woke up."_

" _And looking much better. I'm Cain. I helped treat your wounds," he introduced. Faye lowered her gaze. "As I understand it, you've recently become an orphan."_

" _I don't know how you came to know, but yes sir," Faye answered quietly, almost tearfully, "Joja Corp had my parents killed when they wouldn't let Joja buy their specialized luxury products for sale. It was faster for them that way." Cain and Emile's faces fell._

" _Well Faye, I'm the head of Castle Village, as well as a secret organization of...special hired hands," Cain said slowly, hiding a mischievous smile, "If you'd like, you're welcome to stay here." Both Faye's and Emile's faces lit up._

" _Really?"_

" _Why not? My wife always wanted a daughter figure, and Emile and I could teach you to grow up a stronger woman," Cain shrugged casually, "I can give you time to think about it."_

" _Faye! It'll be fun!" Emile beamed, "We can play and try to learn how to do combat. You won't be hurt by anyone anymore."_

 _Faye looked around in thought, her gaze looking at the quaint little green town outside the window. It was pleasant and open, and not at all like the congested layout of Zuzu City. She had been taken in by Morris when he appeared at the sight of her dead parents and ransacked house, and has since then almost forgotten the feel of a proper home._

 _She scanned for any sign of Joja and found none, and the idea of a real potential family and exacting revenge someday turned her confused frown into an excited smile._

" _I'd like that very much."_

* * *

"Faye, wake up! Please wake up!"

Her eyes snapped open, and she felt cold trails on her cheeks where tears left her. She looked up and saw Sam, who had been cradling her away from the beach underneath a makeshift cover of wooden planks in the town's border of beach mangroves.

"Sam, what happened? Where's Elliott?" she asked feebly, panting heavily as she regained her consciousness and composure. "We never found Willy!" Her legs felt like lead and her head was throbbing painfully.

"Don't worry about that right now. What's going on with you?" he asked sharply, "You've been weird since Haley's house. You almost mauled Elliott to death just now. You were becoming one of those things! You're my friend, Faye! I need to know what's happening in that head of yours."

By the time he finished, Faye just let the tears flow. The stress and pressure of the night had finally exploded, and her whole being was racked into an almost out-of-body experience. It was becoming too overbearing to keep everything to herself.

"Sam…" she started off slowly, trying to steady her breathing, "I've seen things I didn't want or expect to see. I felt Haley's insecurity of staying young and pretty from social pressure to stand out when I fought her. And then with Elliott…"

"What happened?" Sam pressed. Faye swallowed hard. She was still reeling from the effects.

"I saw a glimpse of Elliott's childhood while we fought. Domestic abuse," she answered shortly, which quieted Sam. "Hey… Remember when I jumped first into Abi's room?"

Sam looked down at her. "Yeah. Why?"

"I took a Stardrop out of my pack," Faye went on, still quiet, "Some of the black on it sucked up that godforsaken mist. And then they both began to seep through my fingers and into my body."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Sam started, but Faye hushed him.

"I began...recalling things I had kept out of mind for a long time," she replied, "Messing with Haley and Elliott in particular brought them out of me."

"Speaking of that...Who's Emile?" Sam inquired. He felt Faye give off a violent shiver as she choked back more tears to speak.

"He was...my brother of sorts, I suppose," she murmured, a fond smile creeping on her lips, "He found me along with whi was going to call my father. They took me in like I was natural family even though I was never formally adopted. Everybody in Castle Village knew Emile and I were virtually inseparable. I'm sure people were under the impression we had something almost incestuous." She chuckled nervously.

"Did something happen to him?"

"Joja hunted us for taking incriminating papers documenting illegal exploitation of people shipped from across the Gem Sea. Morris had prepared a firing squad for if they saw us," Faye's tone slowly turned bitter as hot angry tears resurfaced, "They captured me, and shot him in front of me on my 18th birthday."

"Morris? That geezer who ran Joja here?" Sam asked in utter surprise.

"The very same," Faye affirmed, "At Haley's house, it was another memory altogether, a bit more recent…" She sat up to face Sam, and recounted the memory of hers and her mother's assault. Blood and adrenaline were pumping through her veins like ice, rendering her soon incapable of feeling anything around her. "Fighting Haley reminded me of my inability to help defend my mother back then." Sam went pale as a sheet.

"Is your mom…alright?" he asked slowly. Faye nodded assuredly.

"Yes… She recovered, and so did I eventually. She and dad are okay, but not a day goes by when we all don't think about Emile," she answered. "He would've liked to see Morris get done in the face by Pierre," she snickered weakly as they both stood up. Sam joined in warily.

"It's a pity I missed it." He then pulled Faye into a hug. "You never told anyone all this, have you?" he whispered. He felt her shake her head as she reciprocated tightly.

"No. You're the first," she choked as her legs turned to jelly, "I came here for a fresh start. Now I'm…infected."

"Not on my watch," Sam said determinedly as he looked her straight in the eye. It was a more comforting gaze than all the others so far, and Faye welcomed it warmly as he gripped her hands gently. "You're still fighting it. Let's just get to the others and finish all this."

Faye exhaled readily. She handed the acquired Stardrop from her pocket, and Sam placed the bruised and corrupted fruit gingerly into the pack. "Alright. We already got over half the town." The more she regained her self-control, the more Faye suddenly became conscious. "Sorry for unloading all this on you, Sam...Thanks for hearing me out."

"We've hung out a lot in and outta band practice, and you haven't lost your composure once. You had to crack _some_ time," Sam smiled as they began heading out of the mangroves, "I'm glad I was the one to help. You don't have to take on everything all by yourself, but I'm wondering...did you do anything to Morris after Pierre socked him?"

"You can bet I did," Faye smirked, limping slightly, "I won't say what, but he won't be bothering or exploiting anyone else ever again...Hey, what's that?"

There was an upturned boat on the beach that had begun wriggling around due to someone or something inside of it.

"Now would be a good time to tell me what happened to Elliott," she muttered to Sam, who had drawn the Galaxy sword he still held on to.

"Well...the black stuff that came from Elliott made a small explosion. His cabin is practically gone and we were all blown back," Sam answered matter-of-factly as he nudged Faye behind him and inched towards the boat.

Using the sword, he tipped it over. Underneath it lay Elliott, who was coughing and sputtering sand as it was whipped up by wind. His cheek was swelling and numerous bruises were forming near his eyes. A cut above his brow was bleeding a thin stream of blood mixed with dirt and sand.

"Huh, I don't remember going sailing today...My god! Where's my house?!" he exclaimed in panic as he scrambled to his feet.

"We could get Robin to help rebuild maybe a bigger and better cabin for you," Faye suggested uneasily before adding under her breath, "If we survive all of this."

"Faye! Sam! What a surprise to you see you here," Elliott seemed to have breathed a sigh of relief, "I don't suppose you have any idea what happened or what to do now?"

"Do you happen to know where Willy went? We came to check on you guys," Sam told him. Elliott racked his brain.

"I remember seeing him heading up to the mountain lake some time ago," he said thoughtfully, "Maybe he never came back."

"We haven't seen him anywhere around here. I hope he's safe. Let's head back to Mayor Lewis's place before we go up that way," Faye said as she whipped three Life Elixirs from ingredients in the pack. _I'm sorry about your face, Elliott. I hope that stuff doesn't scar._

She handed one to Sam and to Elliott _,_ and with a quick toast, drank, and looked up. The barrier she had thrown was still visually intact, though the hordes of monsters it blocked were outside like zombies bumping aimlessly to break through.

One look at the sight from the other two guys, and the three of them sprinted away from the demolished beach and back into town.


	9. Mixed Up

"I don't know how you kids did it, but those serpents are certainly slowed down," Mayor Lewis announced happily as the three teens were doubled over in his living room, panting hard and in stitches.

"We were able to gun down the monsters around Alex's house," Maru added before her bubbly face fell, "Then we saw Evelyn and George pushing it towards Pam's and Penny's trailer." This caught Faye's attention.

"And then what happened?"

"No one's come out since then."

Faye strode over to the window facing Pam's trailer and took a pair of binoculars nearby. One look, and she released an exasperated sigh.

"No wonder," she muttered as she handed them off to Sam and Elliott behind her. Their faces paled after a few minutes of glancing. Penny and Alex were fighting to force their way inside the trailer. They jumped in surprise when the trailer rocked on its back wheels.

"Any chance you've got our backs again just in case?" Sam asked Maru on the side as he peered again through the binoculars.

"Of course," she beamed as she loaded a revolver, "We've got our eyes on you."

* * *

"You sure you're up for this, Elliott?"

"Why not? I've always wanted to try my hand at combat if not self-defense," he replied with the revolver in tow, "You do these things all the time, Faye. For a mere farmer, I've always wondered how." They could already hear otherworldly sounds coming from Alex's and Penny's direction.

"...good for nothing mother!" Penny was screeching as she shot a pistol into the door, "Come out here, you cow!"

"You're not my daughter!" they heard Pam yell back from inside, "Even a drunken broad can figure that out!"

"Never thought I'd see the day Penny would bad-mouth anyone," Sam snickered until Faye hit him in the arm.

"Can we just try to take them out with the element of surprise this time?" she asked, "I'd like to not fight them one-on-one this time if we can help it-"

To their horror, a shot rang out from Elliott's revolver as he shot up from behind the bush and aimed for Alex. The bullet got him in the arm. He stopped mid-tackle in the direction of the trailer and faced their way. He was bruised and beaten from the numerous tackling attempts, but his demeanor had grown to accompany them.

"WHO JUST THOUGHT THEY COULD KILL ME?" he bellowed as he looked around wildly. Faye and Sam paled further.

"Elliott, combat doesn't always mean initiating haphazardly," Faye grunted in annoyance as Elliott just looked back at her sheepishly, "Dammit, alright. I'll try to get through to Penny. You two try to take on Alex." The two boys chuckled nervously.

"How's your wrestling game, Elliott?" Sam smirked eagerly. Elliott relieved himself of his outer jacket, leaving him in his long-sleeve white shirt faintly accentuating lean muscle.

"Never tried it, but I'm up for it," he replied. When Alex's back turned to them, both Elliott and Sam sprinted. Faye shook her head in disbelief as Elliott jumped onto Alex's back, effectively distracting him as Sam kicked him behind the legs. Alex, as a result, stumbled onto the ground.

"I'M ENDING MY GRANDPARENTS' MISERY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" he screamed, swinging a gigantic fist at Sam's face. It connected, and he was sent flying until he crashed into a tree.

Meanwhile, Faye was sneaking around behind the whole scene where Penny was still tackling against the obviously-barricaded door, gun still in hand.

"If you can't do it Alex, I'll do it all!" Penny yelled, "I need to end my dumb bitch of a mother anyhow."

"You don't mean that, Penny!" Pam hollered. Faye could see the double barrel-end of a shotgun close against the trailer window, "Don't make me shoot you!" _These two are willing to go down in a gun fight?_

"I'M ALWAYS LEFT CLEANING UP AFTER YOU! EVER SINCE DAD LEFT, YOU'VE BEEN A LAZY PIECE OF SHIT!" Penny shrieked hysterically as she let loose a few rounds into the trailer side. Faye saw Pam recoil as the metallic clangs reverberated. Their eyes met, and Faye held a finger to her lips to signal for Pam's silence as she snuck up behind Penny. She nodded determinedly.

"THE APPLE NEVER FALLS FAR FROM THE TREE, KID!" she smirked as she fired a loud warning shot from her shotgun. It broke through the window, and Faye leapt into action. She grabbed at Penny's gun arm and in a twist, slapped it far out of her grip.

"Oh come off it, Farmer!" Penny's raspy voice snarled in her ear, "You're a woman of hard work. Wouldn't YOU want to get rid of lazy freeloaders?"

"Not like this, Penny," Faye retorted, "You too worked hard to provide for both you AND your mother in the hopes of a better life. Don't give THAT up." She received a roundhouse kick to the face, causing her vision to momentarily go black.

"No one understands, so I'll take care of this myself. Besides, I'm sure Sam would miss you if I killed you now."

 _Oh no she didn't…_

Faye struggled to her feet and surveyed Penny up and down. She was still her same petite frame. She charged, and promptly punched her in the face, causing her to fall back onto the ground. Faye looked down on her, putting her dukes up expectantly.

"He'd miss you too," she breathed as Penny growled at her, "You're his closest friend."

Meanwhile, Elliott successfully had Alex on the ground after a few hearty kicks to the stomach. Sam, having slightly recovered from his tree crash, stomped repeatedly on Alex's legs.

"I think you're going to break all his bones that way," Elliott grunted as he suffered a blow to his cheek. In retaliation, he socked him in the temple.

"That's fine. He won't feel it later on," Sam assured him.

"My grandparents are dying any day now," Alex hissed poisonously, "Might as well just take care of them now and start going at this on my own." The black in him began flickering threateningly.

"What's with you and Penny and going solo?" Sam muttered as he proceeded to get Alex's arms in a lock.

"Oh please. You should at least understand your would-be girlfriend," Alex sniggered darkly, "She's had that deadbeat on her ass since forever. You'd think she deserves some freedom already." Sam flinched, and Elliott blocked an incoming kick aimed for his back.

"Focus Sam!" he reminded him, "Just need to get him in a lock so he's immobile."

"Not on my watch, you pathetic daydreamer," Alex grinned as he swatted Elliott out of the way. He yanked at Elliott's hair, dragging him across the ground. Elliott yelped in pain as Alex proceeded to get into a hammer throw position. But right before the spinning, Sam had drawn his cutlass and hacked Elliott's hair clean in half.

"AUGH! My hair!" Elliott wailed as his hair fell shoulder-length, "I DON'T KNOW WHETHER TO THANK YOU OR GET MAD AT YOU."

"Thank me! At least it's not your scalp ripped out!" Sam retorted as he shook his hands of Elliott's tresses and locked his legs around Alex's waist. As Sam grabbed at Alex's hair to force his head back, Elliott seized his opportunity for payback and chopped him in the neck. Alex reflexively choked, and the black erupted from his lips. "Good god, finally!" and Sam hacked it gone with the cutlass.

"Huh. For an athlete-in-training, he wasn't as bad as I thought he would be," Elliott said with eyes widened in surprise. Sam rolled his head, cracking his neck.

"Yeah. Okay." _You only got punched a few times and got an epic haircut. I crashed into a tree._

When they checked on Faye and Penny, they were circling around each other, already sporting dirt marks and bruises from numerous blows. However, Penny seemed to be on the losing end as she was already limping.

"So, he's watching," Penny taunting evilly. Faye only scowled.

"Never stopped me. How about you?" And each bitch slap was followed by roundhouse kicks to the face and chest.

"I imagine this is what would happen if Abigail and Penny had an actual fight?" Elliott muttered to Sam, who crossed his arms amusedly.

"More like a mixed martial arts fight, but yeah sure," he agreed. In no time at all, Faye had Penny on the ground and in a lock. "Oh Yoba, she could actually KILL Penny with that!"

Faye had gotten her legs entangled and her neck in a dangerous choke. Penny's arms were flat uselessly against the ground, and the more she gasped for limited air, the more black was exhaled from her lips. And when the expelled black began forming a Brute's shape, Faye lunged and hacked it dead with her sword.

"If the actual Penny ever thought about being a mixed martial artist, she should give it a try," she grunted as she got to her feet. She found the tainted Stardrop underneath Pam's lawn chair, and she hesitatingly picked it up. She threw it to Sam, who quickly dropped it in the pack. At that, the trailer door opened behind her.

"Hey kid, you done good, but is my baby alright?" Pam asked worriedly as she threw her shotgun to the side and kneeled beside the unconscious Penny. Behind her, Evelyn and George looked fearfully in Alex's direction. When both Alex and Penny came to, their demeanors had returned to normal, and both sets of parents relaxed.

"Eurgh, I ache worse than arm days," Alex muttered as he flexed and stretched out his body. Evelyn and George approached him cautiously. "Gran, Grandpop, is something wrong?" Tearing up in relief, they embraced their grandson.

"We're just glad you're okay after all," Evelyn said happily as George just agreed in silence.

"I feel like my shins are gonna split in half," Penny added as she sat up, "Mom, what happened?"

"Let's just say you have a bright future as an MMA fighter if teaching doesn't work out," Faye said quickly as Pam was still too shocked in relief for words. Penny just chuckled weakly as she gave Pam a hug. Faye got up and headed towards Sam and Elliott. "You guys alright?"

"Indeed, though I think I've had enough for a while," Elliott replied in a daze as he turned in the direction of Mayor Lewis's house. He ran his hands through his shortened hair and scowled. Sam slapped him heartily on the back before he walked off.

"He did great. We both got Alex in the end. As for you and Penny though…" Faye held up a hand as she felt her face begin to flush. She then proceeded to futilely pull down her midriff top.

"Don't ask."

"Farmer girl!"

Faye whipped around at Alex's call. "Any idea what's going on here?" he asked confusedly as he looked around the desolate and misty town.

"Long story short, shit's been going down here and the rest of the town is either at my place, Pierre's, or Mayor Lewis's," Faye explained quickly, "Dr. Harvey is at Pierre's if your grandparents need him."

"Good idea. They're shook up," Alex nodded as he ran back towards Evelyn and George. A small conversation, some nodding of heads, and the three of them headed towards their town's little store, coughing heavily amidst the mist and the angry weather beating upon them.

"Did you guys check up there at Seb's place yet?" Penny asked worriedly.

"Not yet. We're gonna head up there in a bit," Sam replied as Faye tended to a very shaken Pam, "Gonna come?"

"Of course. It's horrible out here," Penny sighed, "What more up there?"

"The more the merrier!" Faye grinned as Pam ran to catch up with Alex and the others, "Just like band practice right?"

"Right! Just need the drummer and keyboardist back," Sam grinned. Faye hid a mischievous smile to mask her dread.

"I hope Abi's not in those caves. I'd rather her be with Seb right now."

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** _So much happened over the last few weeks that it took me forever to write out this chapter. Hope you still like :)_


	10. The Last Piece

"Seb's house never felt so far!" Faye panted as the three of them sprinted up the hill leading to the mountain house.

"Of all times right?" Penny agreed. She was keeping up well with their pace much to both Faye's and Sam's silent surprise.

The mist was thinning around them the higher in altitude they went, though it still lingered around them like a visible plague. At this point, it only choked them like heavy pollution as they breathed it in. However, a few minutes in, and the smell of the air drastically changed, as did the lighting in the distance.

"Hey...you smell that?" Sam sniffed, concern crossing all of their faces.

"Fire. Let's go," Faye gasped as the black smoke began blowing their way. Upon reaching their band member's house, Sam's eyes widened as his jaw hit the ground, Faye doubled over in in bewildered disbelief, and Penny's eyes welled with tears as her hands flew to her mouth.

Sebastian's house was all aflame, adding an orange hue to the diseased environment. Dancing around it maniacally was Sebastian himself with a torch, lighting parts of the house not yet engulfed in flames. Nearby, Robin, Demetrius, Linus, Marlon, Willy, and Gil were tied to a tree, blackened and barely conscious as heavy smoke wafted in their direction. Standing guard over them was Abigail with her sword drawn at the ready.

"Our house…" Robin murmured sadly through the smoke, "I'd have let you kill me before you destroyed our home." Abigail slapped her in the face with the flat side of her blade.

"He has his reasons," she hissed as her whitened eyes flashed dangerously, "and frankly, I kinda don't blame him."

"Aside from the obvious and cliched I'm-the-less-favored-kid bullshit, of course," Sebastian assured Robin with an evil smile, his face illuminated by the fire.

"At least Abi's not in the caves right?" Sam gulped nervously. Faye exhaled reluctantly.

"I like your optimism," she said readily as she drew the Galaxy, "Abi's got her sword. I'll keep her busy. If you two can take on Seb, maybe you guys can help the others if I can't."

"Poor Robin. All of her hard work…" Penny trailed off sadly until Faye nudged her.

"That's not really Seb and Abi. Let's get them back," she encouraged her with a ready smile. With a nod, Sam and Penny ran towards Sebastian while Faye ran off in the opposite direction for Abigail.

"Sam! You just HAD to bring Miss Goody Two-Shoes with you?!" Sebastian yelled at him tauntingly, "I can deal without her logic tonight, thanks!"

Penny flinched. "Asshole."

"Don't make me beat you to the ground, Seb," Sam warned before he flashed a smirk, "Unless that's what you want." He then muttered aside to Penny, "Think you can just sneak around Abi and get to Demetrius and the others?"

"That I can do. Be careful," she nodded as she ran towards some brush near the hostage tree.

"Your last words, man," Sebastian jeered back as the two boys tackled into each other.

Meanwhile, Abigail caught notice of Faye coming into her sights. "Well, what do we have here? A lost farmer?"

"What a way to confess to Seb about your feelings, huh?" Faye sneered, working to draw her ire, "Tie up his parents and those who just happen to be nearby. You couldn't just say it straight?"

"Shut up, Faye! There's nothing that needs to be said to him at all," Abigail shot back, "If anything, I almost feel sorry for you, fifth-wheeling through band practices. But hey, the band's gotta have a groupie right?" Behind Abigail's back, Faye saw Penny sneaking towards the others tied at the tree. They met eyes, and the same determined, knowing look crossed their faces.

"If I'm a groupie, then you're just a gimmick," Faye pressed, walking backward slightly to draw Abigail closer to her away from the tree, "A girl drummer? Bound to turn some heads there."

And Abigail charged with her sword. As the metals resounded, Faye could not help but thank Yoba for Abigail's still slightly-clumsy sword handling and fighting. Hopefully enough, she could subdue her right away.

However, for all her clumsiness, her speed made up for it. In no time, there were gashes along Faye's arms and stomach.

"Lost your touch, Farmer?" Abigail taunted, her sword glistening with crimson.

"Just testing you out," Faye replied as she charged again. She maneuvered Abigail around, giving Penny a clear field.

"Robin, Demetrius. Can you wake up?" Penny whispered hurriedly to them. Both of their eyes fluttered open weakly as she worked at their rope bonds.

"Penny…" Linus murmured, "Help us."

"I am. Just stay quiet. We don't want Abi to hear us," Penny assured him as Marlon, Willy, and Gil, too, came to their senses. Her hands were shaking nervously and uncontrollably by the time the ropes fell loose on the ground. "Use the back road to get to Faye's farm. You'll be safe there. Now, one by one..."

"What do you think you're doing?!"

Penny had Willy and Marlon around her shoulders when Abigail glanced their way, bloodied and streaked with black from spar gashes. Demetrius was helping to support Robin to safety ahead of them when hesitation crossed his face at being noticed.

"Run Demetrius!" Penny yelled at him as she hobbled with Willy as fast as she could. Just before Abigail could reach them, Faye came up and got her in the back.

"Oh no, you don't," she muttered as she swung around and flung Abigail in the opposite direction. As she momentarily lay on the ground, Faye got Linus and Gil by the arms. "Can you guys follow alright?"

"We'll make it. Thanks, kid," Gil sputtered through a weak smile as he supported Linus and staggered away from the fight.

"Now Seb has to deal with those sorry excuses for parents!" Abigail grumbled, "They don't even love him."

"What? Like you?" Faye smiled tauntingly, "Get up so I can beat you fair and square."

"You'll eat those words-" Abigail started as she sprung up, only to be stabbed square in the chest by Faye's blade. Black rose out of her wound like smoke to mix in with the fire's dark billows. She fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Penny, everything alright?" Faye called out. Coming from the back route, Penny jogged up to her, slightly covered in soot.

"Yep, they're en route to your place and away from here," she announced with relief.

"Good. Let's check on those boys."

They ran down the slight mountain hill to find Sam and Sebastian wrestling in the dirt. Both of their faces were scratched and swelling from hard punches. However, Sam had Sebastian in his control, landing a well-aimed punch to Sebastian's stomach to render him temporarily winded.

"You may beat me at pool, but I got you beat in smackdowns," Sam sneered as he kneed Sebastian in the groin, "I love ya bro, but this is for your own good."

"You don't know what's good for me. I'll figure that out for myself," Sebastian snarled through gritted teeth. With a side punch to Sam's temple, he wriggled out of his grasp, shoved him against the rocky mountain wall, and began mauling him punch for punch in the chest and face.

"Oh, I can't watch this…" Penny groaned as she walked off slowly, "I'll just go and check on Abi."

"Defend your girlfriend's honor, Seb," Sam smiled evilly as he got another uppercut to the jaw, "She's been knocked the fuck out."

"By who?" Sebastian growled angrily, whipping his head around to face behind him.

Immediately, Faye struck him clean in the throat before she ran off towards the mountain lake. He coughed and choked aggressively as Sam kicked him to the floor, pounced, and began pummeling him in the face and chest to cut off his air. To his satisfaction, Sebastian soon began coughing up black ash that began blowing away into the wind. As an added bonus, he saw as it blew into the house's inferno, and a monstrous screech echoed from the flames until it died down completely.

When Sebastian was finally lying still, Sam got off his stomach and began examining him for life. When he felt a slight pulse, he exhaled in relief and looked around. Penny was attending to Abigail, who was just waking up. Nearby, Faye was sprinting back and forth with bucket after bucket full of water from the lake to try putting out the house fire.

"Ugh…"

Finally, a tired groan from Sebastian snapped Sam's thoughts. He grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Seb! Dude, you okay?" he asked semi-frantically. Sebastian sat up, and Sam supported him to stand.

"Yeah, I'm good...And holy hell, what happened to the house?" Sebastian asked, the blood draining from his face. He could only stare at Faye trying hard to suppress the fire.

"It's not YOUR fault per se, but you set fire to your house," Sam answered flatly, grinning and slapping Sebastian on the back.

"...Mom's gonna totally kill me," Sebastian chuckled nervously, attempting to wipe a streak of dirt on his face, "Is that Penny and Abigail up there? What happened?"

"We had to kill you!" Penny yelled from afar as she helped Abigail over to where they were. Sebastian and Abigail gawked at her. "But you're both safe now!"

Meanwhile, Faye was able to dampen part of the house into low embers. Amongst the burnt debris, she saw a faint purple glow. Hesitatingly, she reached through and pulled out the tainted Stardrop. It began to vibrate violently, and she moved to drop it except it hung suspended in the air.

"Faye?! What's happening?!" Sam called out to her.

She turned, and she saw the four others backing away from the discarded pack thrown from Sam's back as it, too, began to vibrate dangerously. It eventually tore apart, and the last six Stardrops hovered out. The seventh joined it in a circle, and Faye ran over to them. The bile-colored mist was quickly getting sucked into the seven Stardrops, finally clearing up everywhere in the valley.

"I have no idea," she answered finally. Her head began throbbing uncomfortably until it felt like multiple migraines. She looked down at the fresh cuts and wounds she received from Abigail's sword fight. To her horror, they were faintly bleeding black like the Stardrop taint. She looked up at the four, who were staring back at her with the same expression of horror and anticipation.

They reacted wildly as the black in all of the Stardrops suddenly began blasting itself through Faye's open wounds. She collapsed to her knees in intense pain as Sam, Sebastian, Penny, and Abigail frantically reached for the Stardrops in an attempt to halt whatever flow was occurring.

"They burn!" Abigail wailed as she flinched sharply and pulled her hands back in pain. True enough, the Stardrops burned red with each touch, rendering the four of them powerless to stop the black from infiltrating Faye's body. "And whatever that is, IT'S NOT STOPPING!"

Faye began levitating off the ground, writhing in pain as a vicious purple glow began to emanate from her body. And when she finally attempted to open her eyes, they became pure black, and her skin became white as marble.

"THAT'S not supposed to happen," Sebastian murmured, his eyes wide in dread.

"Brace yourselves guys!" Sam yelled.

With an anguished shriek, Faye released a purple laserbeam in their direction before she, along with the seven Stardrops, rapidly drifted towards town.


	11. Fickle Interference

The wind began picking up violently, bringing along with it a new onslaught of rain. As Sam, Sebastian, Abigail, and Penny fought against nature, the rain pricked them like needles all over. Ahead of them, the town was glowing an ominous purple like a baseball stadium at night.

"You just had to live up in the mountains, eh Seb?" Sam puffed as he squinted through the wet curtains.

"Sorry we're a family that likes weird nature and privacy," came the retort as Sebastian whipped his soaked hair away from his face.

"Anyways, you don't suppose we have to fight Faye, do you?" Penny asked nervously.

"Yeah. Now it's like we don't even know the first thing about her," Abigail added, having been quickly filled in with Sebastian by Sam and Penny from the mountain.

"I think I do," Sam muttered as they finally reached town.

The shield from Faye's mysterious bottle still held incoming monsters at bay, but it did not hamper any force of nature one bit. The town was slowly starting to flood due to the river nearby beginning to overflow from the downpour. The wind was whipping in all directions, helping to displace what little else of the diseased mist was not yet sucked by the tainted Stardrops hovering above them.

On the roof of Pierre's store was Faye, surrounded by said Stardrops and definitely not in control of herself. Her arms waved in snake-like movements, controlling the direction of the wind and rain. From afar, the four of them saw the emptiness of her eyes as though she were accepting of her new blindness contrasting with her alabaster skin.

Her gaze whipped in their direction, and the four of them froze as the rain pierced right through them in painful surprise. They ducked behind a bush for some form of cover.

"Great. Now she's a weather-bender," Sebastian groaned as blood appeared through his now-torn hoodie, "How do we top this?"

And right as though to answer his question, a flash of light materialized in front of them. Through their squinting, two figures appeared, and when the light died down, the Witch and Wizard Rasmodious appeared. Both of them were battle-weary.

"Home sweet home, Razzie-pie!" the Witch sneered as she aimed a red blast in his direction. The Wizard ably deflected it up into the sky with a muffled grunt.

"You're the Wizard in the forest tower!" Abigail exclaimed excitedly.

"You guys have the same hair color," Penny and Sebastian pointed out with blank stares. The Wizard fought back a smirk.

"Kids! Stay out of the Witch's way!" he warned as he aimed yet another spell in her direction.

"Those kids would NEVER listen to you once they find out that ALL OF THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" the Witch cackled as she gestured all around her. Indeed, the town was slowly wearing and tearing under the brunt of nature and the previous monster attacks.

"You mean all this destruction was you, Wizard?!" Sam asked frantically as a tree branch came close to impaling him in the face.

"It's complicated! The Witch had a hand in this!" came his reply, "Where's young Faye?"

"Controlling the weather. Can you help us?" Penny asked anxiously, her hair coming undone in matted tangled from her usual buns.

"I need to subdue the Witch first!" He Wizard called back as he got struck in the face with a face slap of a spell. As his hair singed at the tips, Penny hoisted him up until she was struck squarely in the back.

"We almost forgot," Sam growled as he looked to Faye, who had formed more rain needles to strike them all. They immediately disintegrated once they embedded themselves in their flesh. "Ugh. Don't know how to feel about these. Freezing, burning, then hurting."

They dragged the Wizard back with them under cover behind a trash can around the Saloon. Blood, watered down by the rain, trickled all over from various sizes of puncture wounds and spell blasts.

"Is there no way we can split up to take on both or something?" Sebastian gasped, "We could get at least one of them tied up or something."

"Not a bad idea," The Wizard wheezed, "I think young Abigail and Penny can try to get Faye down. You young men help me with the Witch. We can deal with Faye after we take care of her." At that, he procured a vial and placed four drops on his fingers. He flicked each drop in Sam's, Sebastian's, Abigail's, and Penny individual directions, and a film of orange enveloped them until disappearing.

"5 minutes of imperviousness. Should be enough time."

Sam and Sebastian looked at each other and immediately aimed a full-on punch to each other's faces, feeling nothing, and grinned widely. "Sweet."

"Oh come on," Abigail sighed exasperatedly as they all split up.

"Boys, just hold her still long enough and I can get her with a binding spell. I don't plan on dealing with her very long," the Wizard instructed, "Try not to get hit."

"No problem," Sam assured him. He did not look forward at all to any more possibilities of crashing into trees or solid cobblestone. He and Sebastian watched as the Witch reached into her tattered robes and pulled out her wand.

Her spellcasting increased tenfold immediately. Jets and bolts of different-colored lights flew in all directions, grazing the three men in various spots despite all attempts to block and deflect. The impervious spell held, defusing potentially critical attacks that managed to connect.

"That damn wand," Sebastian snarled in frustration, "I'll go and rip it from her fingers."

"I'd like to see you try, little boy," the Witch taunted him maniacally, "Your determination is admirable, but foolishly misplaced. That man you call the Wizard will dispose of you soon enough just as he did me."

"We get you had a relationship, but taking it out on the town through the Wizard is wrong!" Sam scoffed at her as he zigzagged his way up to her and socked her in the face. She was instantly thrown off balance and summoned her broomstick, which materialized some feet away from her. She stumbled towards it, but it incinerated to ash thanks to another of the Wizard's spells.

"At least fight fair," he sneered. He was met with a small explosion that knocked him off his feet and into a nearby trash bin.

"Not while you have little lackeys and I don't," the Witch snarled as she aimed in Sam's and Sebastian's directions. They staggered upon being hit with bright red sparks but fought to get back on their feet. Instead of lunging forward to fight, they were met with four Shadow Brutes, and they clumsily charged at the two boys.

"Seb, catch," Sam hollered, and he tossed his pistol at him. With a flourish, Sebastian cocked the shot and fired point-blank as Sam pulled out his cutlass and fended off another Brute.

"How cute. They can actually fight," the Witch cackled gleefully as she pointed her wand to enhance the Brutes, "Maybe I can play with you two some more."

The Wizard shrugged off some trash from his shoulders, "Don't bother with those two. I can defeat you easier that way.

"In your dreams, my sweet," the Witch scoffed as she and the Wizard poised for another sudden showdown as Sam and Sebastian finished off the last two of the Brutes.

Both magical folk fired off. While the Witch's curse whizzed past the Wizard's ear, his spell struck her dead-on in the stomach. Sam gave her a hearty jab, and Sebastian pounced upon her wand, wincing in pain as an electric shock coursed through his veins from the slightest contact. He flung it away into some nearby grass out of immediate sight.

"You fools can't get rid of me!" The Witch declared delusionally as she found herself surrounded, wandless and in a throbbing daze. With a complementary punch to the face this time from Sebastian, Sam held fast both of her arms, preventing her from casting spells. And the Wizard finished with his said binding spell, leaving her body rigid as a board.

"That may be true, Witch, but we can still just send you somewhere else," he said simply as the three of them towered over her. In a sweeping flourish, the Wizard summoned a portal in midair that swirled black and blue. "I can deal with you further later. Now, if you gentlemen would be so kind…"

Grinning, Sam and Sebastian grabbed both ends of the Witch and heaved her inside. With a last shriek of despair, the portal closed, and all traces of her disappeared.

"What did you do to make her act up like this?" Sam turned to the Wizard, "I didn't know she even existed around here."

"Young Sam, you can probably tell that we were married at one point," he answered, receiving exasperated reactions, "I will say that whomever it is you love and marry, do not let yourself or your spouse forget that. I did, amidst my experiments and … other distractions."

"That's IT?! You basically just shunned your witch wife and she went ballistic?" Sebastian exclaimed in disbelief, cocking his eyebrows.

"In your terms, yes," the Wizard replied, grinning sheepishly.

"Well, she's taken care of. Can we help Faye now?" Sam pointed behind them. One look, and they saw Penny and Abigail wrestling almost futilely with a very enraged Faye, who had begun pelting them with sharp attacks.

"Yes. Let's," the Wizard agreed as they went to rush over.

As they got closer to the fighting trio, Penny and Abigail were suddenly blasted back until they crashed into Sebastian and the Wizard respectively. Helping them to their feet, they saw as a faint black barrier formed around Faye. She strode menacingly towards them, and the winds around her began to manipulate themselves into what felt like versatile, invisible walls that threatened to knock them all down to their feet and into nonresistance. However, she herself moved with what looked like guided blindness.

"Every time we're about to get her, she just hits back a BIT too much," Penny grunted, wiping her drenched hair out of her face.

"Did the witch have any solution for this?" Abigail asked tiredly.

"She wouldn't tell us even if she knew of any," the Wizard answered shortly, "Good thing I do. However, it won't be enough to just beat her into submission."

"Why? We just need to get in there and beat that black stuff outta her like she did with all of us right?" Sam protested.

"No...this is different," the Wizard answered as he kept Faye at bay with a spell of his, "She's had too much prolonged exposure to all of Stardew Valley's taint. That, combined with the power of the Stardrops, infused into her being unlike you all, wherein the taint only made you all temporary hosts."

"So what can we do?" Sebastian asked hesitantly as the Wizard whipped up a mix of spells in front of him.

"We'll have to tap into her mind for answers."


	12. Duplicate Turmoil

Mother Nature intensified tenfold with the banishment of the Witch from Stardew Valley. The town square was already on the verge of flooding and the winds blew rain and tree debris in all directions. The only meager source of solace was...nowhere. It left the Wizard, Sam, Sebastian, Abigail, and Penny beyond drenched as they observed Faye still mindlessly manipulating everything around her, eerily mute.

"Seriously? How would that work?" Abigail asked the Wizard in disbelief. He held up his prepared mixture: a gas in a light blue hue contained in a phial.

"All of you, including Faye, need to breathe this in at the same time," he answered simply, "I assume we all know how to subdue young Faye for this?" The four young adults looked at each other, and a quick, silent understanding passed through all of them.

"You won't be coming with us though?" Sebastian asked him. The Wizard shook his head.

"I must stand attentive to your bodies in case I must forcefully bring you all out of Faye's mind realm," he replied shortly.

"Are we still impervious right now?" Penny asked curiously. The Wizard nodded.

"Yes. We got rid of the Witch as quick as I expected. Though imperviousness does not seem to be all that necessary in one's mind," he went on thoughtfully, "Apart from being able to enter her mind, there's not much more I can do to influence what you must do."

In no time at all, atop the roof of Pierre's store, Faye had her senses knocked out of her as Sam tackled her from behind. Disoriented, she struggled to fight back against his hold with her newfound strength, only to be further subdued with a punch to the head from Sebastian. With her temporarily knocked out, they brought her down to the yard beside Alex's house, where Penny, Abigail, and the Wizard waited against a tree with a considerable lengths of rope.

"That was TOO surprisingly easy," Sam noted with a blank stare as the two girls quickly bound Faye's wrists and ankles while she lay still on the ground. The wind and rain around them dulled from typhoon-esque to mere thunderstorm.

"The real torment is in her mind," the Wizard muttered, "Now, I trust you all will keep your wits about you. Kindly get in position…"

"If something happens to us in there…" Penny trailed off quietly, Fearfully, Abigail grabbed her arm.

"Don't think that way, Penny. We can do this," she urged. The Wizard watched her hesitatingly, unsure whether or not to talk to her as he reached for the phial in his robes, eventually deciding against it.

And with the five of them lying star-pronged on the ground, the Wizard dispersed the light gas over them. A single breath, and all five bodies lay still.

* * *

The next moment that Sam, Sebastian, Abigail, and Penny came to, there was no trace of Stardew Valley at all. Instead, they found themselves in craggy plains reminiscent of once-glorious lowlands poisoned by the same unhealthy mist that had just earlier wafted through Stardew Valley. Sparse trees and struggling flowerbeds dotted the land as well as what seemed like miscellaneous trash.

All of this was punctuated by swirling green skies with gray clouds that flashed purple lightning in the current dry storm. As boundless as the environment seemed, the lightning cracked in such a manner as to give this dimension its own boxed-in feel.

"This...is Faye's mind?" Sebastian gulped as they treaded slowly, looking around wildly, "It's like calm chaos in here." Faint screams echoed through the air around them, sending chills down their spines.

"You hear all that?" Sam asked quietly, "It sounded like they were coming from the top of this mountain."

"It doesn't seem like there's much out there to check," Abigail squinted into the valley distance, "Let's get going."

"Makes you wonder how much you really knew her, huh?" Sebastian agreed as he eyed a young girl's ripped and bloody lace dress on the barren soil. Not far away were some bloody daggers and frayed rope.

Penny, meanwhile just followed silently as she found a half-buried photo frame along the mountain trail. Curiously, she reached for it and wiped dirt off the scratched glass. As soon as it cleared, she let out a surprised gasp.

"Something the matter, Penny?" Sam turned to face her. She cradled her hand gingerly as gashes bled profusely.

"No big deal," she muttered as she fumbled to rip a piece of her shirt for a bandage, her hand shaking violently. The other three ran over in concern as Sam rushed to fix up her new wounds. "I found that, and the glass slashed me."

A lovely family photo, now spotted with scarlet and dirt, came to, depicting who they saw to be childhood Faye surrounded by a boy close to her age with black hair and green eyes as well as a regal-looking mother and a strong, dependable father the young boy represented. All of them were smiling happily amidst the bright setting of the picture, which contrasted with the broken glass and a wilted rose that lay nearby.

"This is heartbreaking. We have to find her now," Abigail murmured as Penny recovered, and they all ran as fast as they could up the hill. On the way up, a silhouette formed.

"Faye? Faye!" Sam hollered after it. As they struggled to reach its position, the silhouette turned as if to come to them before falling out of sight as if something had dragged it back. Multiple shrieks followed.

"Be careful. We don't know how everything behaves in here," Sebastian warned him as they finally reached the top.

The lightning storm intensified immediately as they overlooked a vast volcano crater that smoked weakly. Surprisingly enough, it was not hot.

"Faye!" Penny cried as she dashed away from the others. They followed in hot pursuit until Penny knelt at the rocky edge and reached down with her bandaged hand.

A little below, Faye held on for dear life as she hovered over the murky dark vortex that filled the volcano crater. Within it swirled streaks of red and purple as well as discarded weapons, broken toys, tattered storybooks, and frayed rope and chain links. The center was something unseen, yet something that could potentially lead into dark abyss beyond the mindset.

"Penny...You guys," Faye smiled weakly, her face streaked in blood and dirt as she kept her grip firm, "Why are you here?"

"We came to help you get rid of all this evil," Sam called down to her as he, too, reached out to her, "Just grab our hands. We'll get you out of there."

"These are all my own issues. You should have left me be," Faye murmured as she peered towards the volcano abyss, "I'm sorry you had to be dragged into all this."

"Don't be stupid. We're your friends," Sebastian scoffed at her while Abigail scrambled around to pick up pieces of rope scattered around nearby, "Now hurry up so you can tell us what to do."

Wordlessly, Faye looked up and mustered enough strength to swing upwards. Both Penny and Sam made a grab for her wrist when the volcano trembled violently.

Faye yelped fearfully as Sam's and Penny's grips slipped. Her ankle was tugged violently by what turned out to be a ragged and wasted form of herself, puppeteered by the dark silhouette of Morris where the center of the abyss drained.

At the same time, three more figures erupted from the vortex and effectively blocked Sam, Sebastian, Abigail, and Penny from Faye. As they began forming, the four of them stepped back warily.

One formed morphed into a version of Faye with heavily accented curves and features more than the real Faye would ever allow herself to show. Clad in a tight black halter dress, knee-high boots, and fingerless gloves, they contrasted amazingly with her vibrantly bouncy and full maroon hair and her flashing blue eyes. A dagger rested at her hip whilst the garter belt holster of a pistol teased dangerously upon her thigh.

The next transformed into whom they guessed as teenage Faye in a traveling cloak that hid the rest of her outfit made for agile combat. The sheathes of knives within the long green cloak dulled the dangerous silver glints of all of her weapons. Her face was covered by the hood, yet the pale pink lips were curled into a taunting smirk.

And finally, the last figure became that of the little girl in the family photo, staring at the four of them with wide, curious blue eyes, her still-ginger hair tied back in an elaborate ponytail atop her head. She clutched a beaten teddy bear to her chest.

"The Wizard never told us anything about multiple forms," Abigail groaned as she unsheathed her own sword against the Cloaked Faye uncertainly. "Can we do this?"

"Or make it easier on yourself and don't so so at all," Cloaked Faye answered quietly. With a flourish quicker than the blink of an eye, she flung one of the knives from within her cloak, and it sliced Abigail's hair straight across.

Now sporting purple shoulder-length hair, Abigail's eyes widened. "You did NOT have to do that."

She lunged at Cloaked Faye, and they entangled themselves in an all-out blade spat. Sebastian and Sam started towards them until a dagger boomeranged in front of them, effectively stopping them in their tracks.

"And where do you think you're going?"

The Sultry Faye walked towards them, power in every sashaying step as she caught the dagger that returned to her. "Abi can take care of herself. But as for you two...Care to take on a real woman?"

"You're not real at all," Sebastian shot at her, "You're just lodged here in someone's mind."

"Oh Sebastian, you would know about being in one's head," the Sultry Faye hissed, "Just as much as Sam would know about being dependable for loved ones…"

"Don't drag my family into this," Sam retorted as he and Sebastian drew their weapons, "You wanna go?"

No further words were needed as the Sultry Faye quickly drew her pistol and fired a shot, deflecting a parry from Sam as well as a shot from Sebastian's own pistol with her dagger. They staggered back in surprise as she grinned wickedly ready at them.

Penny watched them from afar helplessly as she was without a weapon and with a throbbing, still-bleeding hand. She looked frantically for anything to distract the hostile Fayes until she felt a slight tug at her skirt. Alarmed, she looked down and saw the youngest form of Faye staring back at her with the most painstruck eyes she has ever seen from a child. She could see faint blood stains all over the lovely white dress where this Faye walked and stood in awkward positions.

"You have to help us," she whispered pleadingly, "We can't fight back…"

Lo and behold, puppet strings from Morris's marionette control lashed themselves all over Baby Faye, and she cried out meekly as she staggered to the floor. As such, for all her new welts, she struggled to stand up. Penny, out of pity, engulfed little Faye in her arms.

"You don't deserve this," she whispered. In a flash, she was whipped at lightning speed. _Is this what Faye had gone through prior to arriving at Stardew Valley?_

"You have no business protecting that little urchin," Morris snarled darkly, a monstrous tone etched into his otherwise annoying voice, "Do what's best for yourself and leave her be, intruder."

Penny hugged Baby Faye close as she received the oncoming whiplashes against her back, her eyes narrowing. "Make me."

All the while, the real Faye fought with all her strength against the beaten, battered, and bloodthirsty version of herself to tighten her grip on the rocky cliff. She was getting tired, having had dealt with this for who-knows-how-long now.

"These people know us now," hissed the raggedy Faye excitedly, "We can't let them live now, can we?"

Her two bony hands gripped Faye's ankle in a death grip and yanked. She gripped onto an outlying vine just as her grip on the cliff slipped. Pushing through her fatigue, she used her free foot to kick against the fingers dragging her down. A temporary feeling of relief rushed through her as the anguished yelps of pain resounded and the grip loosened.

"Says you."

Faye scrambled as fast as she could, albeit clumsily, to get onto the cliff overlooking the dark vortex. Things had been going relatively well for her until whatever it was that inhabited the Stardrops got under her skin. It was going to be another hell of a fight, but seeing her friends there and willing to help her fed her with a newfound strength she thought she had all but lost.

* * *

A/N: I know it's taken me a while, but ARGH. Life and stuff keep giving me writer's block. So sorry! If anything though, this story is close to ending nyehe Hope you like! :)


	13. What Wasn't There Before

Stardew Valley's strong rains and winds quieted down to mere hard rains as the Wizard Rasmodius created a rounded barrier sheltering him and the five bodies before him from the elements. He watched as Sam's and Sebastian's bodies twitched violently and Abigail sharply whipped to her side. Faye and Penny remained still, though expressions of distress began pulling on their facial features.

"Goodness. The mental realm is a lot more volatile than initially thought," he muttered to himself, "I hope they're doing okay."

* * *

"Are you going to _actually_ put up a fight this time?"

The Sultry Faye grinned excitedly at Sam and Sebastian, having successfully disarmed them of their firearm. Hardly a hair on her head was out of place compared to the two boys, who were both panting. One of Sam's jacket sleeves were ripped off and Sebastian's jeans sported bloody rips and holes as they glared darkly at her.

"Obviously, our usual divide and conquer thing won't work here, huh?" Sebastian sneered as he spoke under his breath.

"Any ideas?" Sam asked him. They shared a quick knowing glance until all of a sudden, both boys were smacked against part of the rocky mountain wall, and they effectively crumpled to the ground.

"How about you two drop dead, I drop your corpses into the dark void where I came from, and you can join me there?" murmured the Sultry Faye excitedly as she strode towards Sebastian's body, "Starting with you, Seb." She grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off the ground. Her eyes shone milky violet and her pearly whites bared in a wicked grin as she inhaled deeply through her scarlet lips.

Unbeknownst to the subconscious Sebastian, a translucent white essence began pouring forth from his lips and into Sultry Faye's own. In no time, her regained his consciousness, only to struggle weakly against his rapidly-waning strength the more his lifeforce seemed to drain.

"Sebastian! Hold on!" Abigail yelled at him amidst her disadvantaged position in her blade fight against the Cloaked Faye, "Sam! Get up!"

"Mind your fights, bitch," the Cloaked Faye snickered as she dealt swift slashes across Abigail's torso, allowing blood to splatter on the dirt, "Unless of course, you're allowing me to finish you off."

Abigail responded with a hack to Faye's cheek, "Never." She looked over to Penny and saw what just seemed like a flurry of whips and a steadily bloodied Penny hunched over a small something. A few feet in between all of them was Sam's discarded firearm courtesy of the Sultry Faye clutching onto Sebastian.

With adrenaline pumping anew through her veins, Abigail felt a spurt of agility rush throughout her body as she quickly maneuvered behind the Cloaked Faye and promptly stabbed her in the back. As the Cloaked Faye fell to her knees, Abigail sprinted towards the gun, grabbed it, and fired two finishing shots into Cloaked Faye's chest.

One hit the heart, and with an anguished look on her face, the Cloaked Faye mustered a weak grin as she disintegrated into shining yellow dust. As quick as she disappeared, the lingering dust formed itself into a blinding ray of light and struck Morris in the heart of the void.

In another fight away from the others, Faye was squaring off head-to-head with her battered counterpart. She saw the blast hit Morris from the side of her eye, and the both of them stopped in their tracks, feeling the hit reverberate throughout their bodies. At once, Faye felt strength returning to her as she saw the same strength waning in her counterpart.

"Never thought of ending it all _that_ way," she smirked excitedly, though fatigue was still apparent on her face.

"Not if I can help it," the Battered Faye shot back as she began transforming into an all-shadowed form, "We're all a part of you, and nothing can change that."

As the two Fayes resumed their martial sparring, Morris let out a horrible screech from his position on the void perch. He recoiled before regaining his composure, though that had momentarily halted his rapid whipping.

Taking the opportunity, Penny, now sporting numerous welts and whiplash wounds, picked up Baby Faye and sprinted towards Abigail.

"Abigail, help Sam!" Penny urged her as she clutched Faye harder, "Then you two can take on that monster. IT'S GOING TO KILL SEBASTIAN!"

"She falls to anyone who can outplay her game," Baby Faye said in a muffled voice against Penny's chest.

"Got it," Abigail nodded. _But first, I have to interrupt that life flow somehow._

She charged and rammed herself as hard as she could into the life-sucking Faye, knocking Sultry Faye off-balance onto the ground. Regaining her footing, Abigail rushed to Sebastian and shoved him out of the way before reaching Sam, who was coming to.

"Sam! Sebastian just almost got the life sucked out of him. I can help you get that witch," Abigail shook him roughly. She looked back worriedly and saw that Sultry Faye had resumed sucking the life out of Sebastian who, at this point, was deathly pale. Abigail yanked Sam to his feet, and he cast a look between the Sultry Faye, Faye fighting with the abused version of herself, and Penny, who looked at him expectantly as she hugged Baby Faye close. He saw as the oncoming whips slithered behind her and resumed their abuse, resulting in Penny and Baby Faye crying aloud.

"Ready that gun, Abi," he muttered to her, "Wait for my signal." At her momentarily confused look he added, "You'll know what it is."

Abigail could only nod and cock the pistol as Sam rushed at Sebastian. Grabbing him by the shoulders to thrust him in Abigail's direction, the life force flow broke once again as he then charged at the Sultry Faye. Catching her by surprise, he felt her slump helplessly as he roughly grabbed her and his lips locked with hers.

"Haha, you bastard," Sebastian chuckled weakly, a wide smirk on his and Abigail's faces. He looked around at the other two Fayes fighting in the distance and saw that the real Faye had a suddenly stunned look on her face.

Her fingers traveled to touch her lips before she turned to look at what was happening. Her eyes widened at seeing Sam kissing her impish self before getting mauled in the stomach by her bruised half. Shaking off the strange feeling, she aimed a punch to her evil half's temple.

"You've been waiting for that," the Shadow Faye snickered as she aimed a perfect roundhouse kick to the head. Faye immediately smashed into the dirt.

The pistol sounded its shot as Abigail aimed squarely at the Sultry Faye's back. Her body slackened against Sam's hold as it connected. Without further words, she, too, mustered a weak smile before she disintegrated into golden dust. As with the previous Faye, she fired at Morris and hit him square in the chest.

Again, the whipping subsided and the change of strength hit both fighting Fayes once again. The essence of Sebastian's life sucked by the Sultry Faye drifted through the wind, and Sebastian breathed it all back in, regaining his strength and senses. Morris was now visibly weak as he fought to keep his balance against the bigger blast resulting from this second defeat. It was at this point that Baby Faye let go of Penny hesitantly and looked up at her with a sad smile.

"We'll all be at peace soon," she said quietly as Sam, Sebastian, and Abigail ran to meet up with the two of them, "Thank you for everything you've done."

"Why are you talking like that? Is there anything else we should know?" Penny asked her weakly, sporting numerous wounds as she was knelt at Baby Faye's eye level. Baby Faye let go of her and picked up a number of the throwing knives left behind by Cloaked Faye.

"Only that older me can end everything only if you four believe in her now that you've seen everything," Baby Faye answered simply as she thrust one of the knives knife into Penny's hand, "As for myself, I'm of no further use to you alive here in front of you."

Penny's eyes welled up with tears as she looked at the glinting knife, "I don't think I could…"

"You still saved me, saved us, in the face of oncoming abuse the way you did," Baby Faye smiled as she reached up to touch Penny's cheek, "I'm forever grateful. I can go now knowing I will have friends like you." She then turned to Sam and handed him the remainder of the knives.

Penny looked up at the other three standing behind her. Sebastian was catching his breath and was held up by Abigail whilst Sam looked between Penny and Baby Faye sadly. The three of them nodded gravely, and tears flowed down Penny's cheeks as she turned to face Baby Faye again.

"Thank you. I promise to help you however I can, even if it means just being a friend."

Shakily, she held the knife to Baby Faye's stomach and shanked her clean. Baby Faye giggled weakly as blood leaked from the corners of her mouth. As she and her teddy bear collapsed, she, too, withered into gold dust.

It became a blast larger than the previous two, and struck itself again into Morris's chest. The whiplashes were finally halted and silenced as Morris fought to keep standing.

"Well THAT… was an interesting ending," Abigail muttered in awe.

"Not quite yet. There's still one more," Sam reminded her, pointing further up the cliff. There, the two Fayes were still facing off in a purely martial art-style manner. As the teddy bear lay innocently motionless on the ground, the four of them made their way up the mountain cliff.

Faye had gotten up and spat out a mouthful of dirt before she merely glared at her battered alter ego. She watched as Sam, Sebastian, Abigail, and Penny hobbled towards where they were fighting, covered in equally as many bruises and wounds as she was.

"Giving up? It'll make this a lot easier," snickered Shadow Faye as she got into yet another readying fighting stance, "Your friends won't have to suffer much longer on your behalf any longer."

Faye could only let out a frustrated scream as she leapt up and began meeting the Shadow Faye blow for blow. Before the Shadow Faye could land a knockout punch to the temple, Faye stopped it in its tracks.

"Why save them?" Shadow Faye spat in her face, "Especially when you know this is only going to end badly for you."

Faye answered back quietly, "I saved them from you, and they still cared enough to reach me here." And she struck back, hitting every single pressure point she could effectively reach. With a huff, the Shadow Faye found herself partially paralyzed and slowed in her now-weakened movements.

"It was just a mere experiment gone wrong, and you took the opportunity to come back," Faye went on as she elbowed the Shadow Faye to the temple. She buckled to the ground in a crumpled heap. "There's no forgiveness for what you've almost made me do."

"You can move on in peace, Faye!" Penny pleaded as they came within earshot of them, "You don't have to beat yourself up anymore!"

"Yeah! We're all here now! You're better than this," Sebastian added on, taking a few of the knives from Sam cautiously.

"Faye! Catch!"

Faye turned and saw Abigail flinging the Galaxy Sword towards her. She smiled meekly. _Leave it to being in the mental realm to thinking to get what you need._

She caught it with one hand and saw Shadow Faye ready to pounce. Once she leapt, Faye stabbed her squarely in the chest. Black blood spurted everywhere.

"Even if you banish me from here, you know I'll just come back," hissed the now-bloody and shattered Shadow Faye as she slithered further through the sword. Faye just looked at her loftily, flinging her body off the sword and closer towards the dark void where Morris could only watch in weakness and resentment from his point in the center.

Faye walked past the four others, and they followed her quietly as she gestured to them. "I didn't have them last time. They helped give myself a second chance."

"Finish her, Faye," Sam encouraged quietly at her side, "Finish all this."

In a flash, she grabbed the knives from Sam and Sebastian and flung them as hard as she could. In five swift chops, the Shadow Faye was dismembered into six separate parts. Piece by piece, Faye flung them into the void, and each impact resulted in more blows of light striking Morris into an unrecognizable form. Finally, with just the Shadow Faye's head left, Faye lifted it by the dirt-tinged maroon locks. It cackled eerily as Faye flung it last into the void.

The eerie cackle joined Morris's screams of anguish as the void exploded into a brilliant funnel of gold. As it stretched towards the sky, all the traces of black and sickness that plagued the environment began to clear, the skies becoming crystal blue and the valleys becoming clean and green again. All the litter and broken memories repaired themselves into their rightful places, some of them even disappearing into thin air.

* * *

A delighted grin creeped onto Wizard Rasmodius as he saw the skies above him began clearing up, the rain slowly stopping and the winds eventually dying. The monsters previously tormenting the town began dissipating out of existence. He reached down and hacked off the bonds keeping Faye immobile.

He released a long sigh of relief as he felt the five bodies stirring before him. In no time at all, five pairs of eyes fluttered open. Finding themselves lying on the ground, Abigail, Penny, Sam, Sebastian, and Faye sat up, and the scene of a peaceful dawn hitting Stardew Valley met them along with a gentle breeze.

Wordlessly, they looked at each other and smiled.

* * *

 _A/N: I had NO idea what to call the alter egos, so cue my cruddy naming :) Just one quick chappie left. Hope you still like_!


	14. Epilogue - 2 Weeks Later

Faye had been hard at work helping the townspeople, especially Jodi, repair and rebuild a nearly-leveled Stardew Valley. It had taken at least three days of rest before Faye was physically and mentally well enough to help out the town. Up until now, the only buildings left to rebuild were Elliott's cabin and Willy's store on the beach. As for replacing everyone's demolished furniture and belongings, it was needless to say that they all prized their lives and each other over the material things they lost. Everything would come back to them in due time.

"Wizard Rasmodius, I should have your head for this," Lewis scolded darkly from their position near the town square as The Wizard hung his head readily, "But you used your abilities to help save the town, and we are forever grateful. Is there anything we can do or present you with?" Marnie, Jas, Pierre, Harvey, Maru, and Demetrius looked on curiously while Caroline hung further behind them, wistfulness on her face. Her gaze met the Wizard's briefly before he returned to the mayor.

"Quiet isolation, just as before," the Wizard replied simply, "But thank you for your recognition."

The Wizard, since, had disappeared back into his tower, and the steady black steam of cauldron work reappeared. He seemed to have erected a barrier between his tower and the rest of the world, though he never denied Faye the chance to visit. Whenever she did, she was struck by how shockingly similar his and Abigail's hair were in terms of color. She thought of asking, but oftentimes decided against it.

The Stardrops also seemed to have disappeared, though Faye awoke from her recovery with a strange feeling of strength and energy that coursed through her veins. Day by day, her inner demons dulled until they were reduced to mere specks of memory that no longer held her back from life as much as they once did. Sure, flashbacks of what happened in the recesses of her mind would appear in dreams, but safety enveloped her each time she woke up, and peace would return.

Everybody was healing with each other's help. Robin and Clint willingly began to work overtime to supply the town with their repairs along with Alex's, Sam's, Elliott's, and Kent's extra help. Leah helped Evelyn and Caroline fix up the town's mussed gardens. Maru and Dr. Harvey had the hospital open on longer hours to assist in the ensuing health concerns stemming from the event's aftershocks and the fatigue everyone felt in the town rebuilding. Marlon, Gil, Linus, and Willy helped cleaned the town of monster debris, gathering resources and artifacts beneficial for all of them. Demetrius studied the surrounding plants and trees for any more of the lingering mist and their possible aftereffects. Abigail and Penny helped distract Vincent and Jas by taking them out of the town to continue their schooling. And three times a day, Gus, along with Emily, Marnie, and Pam, held communal meals for the entire town with Lewis's permission.

All the while, Faye, amidst helping between repairing buildings, donating survived crops, and cooking meals, had been badgered by the other townsfolk to share what happened while they were stationed in safety during the calamity. Sam, Sebastian, Penny, and Abigail had done what they could to alleviate the retelling after their shorter period of recovery following the incident. It was then that Faye resolved to record everything in writing and donate it to the library for everyone to read for their knowledge. Nonetheless, she had been hailed since as a hero.

However, it did not stop her and the others from telling some specifics to some of the townsfolk or checking up on them during the course of these events. Once or twice, they came across Elliott leaving his temporary residence at Mayor Lewis's home with a pensive look on his face, fingering his still-glorious but heavily-shortened chestnut locks.

"Don't worry about your hair, Elliott!" Abigail cheered, catching him by surprise, "It'll grow back soon enough!"

"I suppose. Your cut doesn't look all that bad either," Elliott returned, gesturing to Abigail's shortened purple tresses. She fingered them and scowled slightly.

"At least we can still take you seriously, Elliott," Sam grinned jokingly, "Abigail lost like five years. It's hard taking her seriously like this." He promptly received a smack to the arm.

One of their biggest hoots following an incident retelling came from Haley, who they told all about her episode following a full day of working out rebuilding Sebastian's home in the mountains. They had already amused themselves with Robin packing a lot of the heavy lifting on Sebastian's shoulders, which he accepted regretfully. Running into Haley at her home just added more to their laughs.

"You mean, I just took a knife and chopped my skin off in pieces?!" she shrieked hysterically, becoming visibly dazed. She frantically began running her hands all over her body as Sebastian and Abigail just snickered in their seats in her living room.

"Yeah, you were becoming like one of those slabs of meat you see hanging in a butcher store," Sam went on, smirking and relishing in Haley's discomfort. Even Penny was starting to look sick as Faye muffled her laughter.

Another moment was while walking around town after helping stock Pierre's store. They came across Shane sulking more than normal toward Marnie's barns. Following him quietly, they watched as he entered the chicken coop. They were still looking sick and beyond bloated, and Shane began tearing up.

Faye looked back at Sam, Sebastian, Abigail, and Penny with an assuring look on her face for them to stay put before she got out from their hiding spot and slowly approached Shane. She saw as Shane flinched at her approach before returning to the sick chickens again.

"What are you doing here, Faye?" he asked quietly. Faye reached down and began cuddling a chicken in her arms. "I'm just taking care of these chickens."

"Just wanted to let you know that what happened to them was not your fault," she answered simply, petting the compliant chicken gently. "Shit happened, and at the very least, they're still alive and they still love you."

A smile tugged on the sides of Shane's lips. "Thanks, Farmer." And thinking that not much more needed to be said, Faye set the chicken back down and walked out of the coop back towards the others.

"There really IS nothing more to be said or done about this at all, is there?" Penny asked softly as they wandered away from the barns.

"None that I know of. You all FOUGHT my memories," Faye chuckled nervously, swallowing the growing lump in her throat, "I wish you didn't have to find out that way, though."

"It was definitely something," Sebastian smirked, "I can hang it over your head that you almost killed me." He laughed maniacally aloud as Penny and Sam immediately whacked him in the arms and Abigail got Faye in a protective hug.

"He doesn't mean that!" she said quickly, and Faye only grinned.

Between the five of them, they never talked much about what had happened in the final moments of the calamity, though Faye and Sam did retell to them the events that happened prior to freeing Penny, Sebastian, and Abigail. The feeling of thankfulness and eternal loyalty constantly emanated from Faye, and that was more than enough for gratitude.

"Penny! How would you feel losing Sam to our little farmer?" Sebastian joked as they waited for Faye to arrive one evening at the beach, grinning at her. Penny shoved him to the ground from their place in the sand.

"Not my place to say anything. He's a good friend," she sighed with a wistful smile, her face becoming slightly flushed, "But she is a good person."

"I heard that!" Sam called out exasperatedly from his position at the shore, the waves lapping peacefully over his and Abigail's feet. He received mischievous giggles in response.

"Hey! Banquet's tomorrow! Gonna just meet up there?" Abigail asked aloud, splashing Sebastian maliciously. He merely recoiled and hid behind an approaching Faye.

"Yeah. Whoever's there first saves the seats," she answered excitedly.

In place of what would have been the Spirit's Eve Festival, the town agreed on an outdoor banquet in the middle of the square for that year.

That day, having taken the day off as the townsfolk prepared, Faye was down at her chair in front of her laptop. Lewis had just come by to pick up a full morning of her contribution of banquet dishes for later. She leaned back in her seat, smiling to herself as she looked back at the last page of her testimony on recent events. Things were relatively back to normal now that she fixed up her farm and replenished her house supplies following the town's use for them.

Soon enough, a knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.

"Oh! Hey Sam," she welcomed her guest.

"Hi Faye! Thought I'd get you on the way to the banquet," he said as Kovu ran up to meet him. A look of realization hit Faye.

"Good timing too. I mean to give you this." She whisked away back to her bedroom and reappeared with a brand new electric guitar. Sam's eyes widened as she handed it to him. "I owe you a new one since I, uh, bashed your old one."

"We can finally get on with band practice again," Sam said gleefully as he played a short riff, "Thanks for this. We can drop it off at my place before we head for town. Don't wanna scuff this up so soon."

After letting Kovu out in the farm for the evening, the two of them headed for Sam's house, where he invited Faye inside. She waited in the living room, where Jodi, Vincent, and Kent greeted her warmly before they headed out the door.

"Lock behind you, Sam!" Kent called out before leaving.

"Sure dad. Faye, can you come here real quick?"

Faye strode into Sam's room, where he was just rummaging around. "What's taking you so long, Sam?"

"I was hoping you'd accept these," he mumbled, turning to her. In his arms was a gorgeous bouquet of roses.

Faye jumped, and she could feel color rushing to her cheeks as much as there was on Sam's face. She had been told by Pierre before what a gift of a flower bouquet meant in Stardew Valley when he started carrying them in his store. She thought back to Sam kissing her sultry alter ego and the feeling that washed over her in that instant.

"R-really?" she stammered, walking closer to him, looking between the bouquet and his gaze. "Even after..?" She loathed the idea of her antics putting him or the others through any danger again.

"I thought we could try. We could take this at whatever pace you want," Sam said shyly, averting his gaze to the side, "I've fallen for you. You've been through a lot, and I just want to really be there for you."

Faye swallowed hard, working to keep down her creeping tears and butterfly swarms. She never really considered that all she wanted was somebody to take her as she was, dark past and all. Sam WAS the first she spilled to and he never left. He was such a dork sometimes, but he still followed her to the end of her sanity. Maybe it was time...

She bit back an undoubtedly idiotic grin as she scooped the bouquet into her arms, and in turn, he swept her into a kiss that had their hearts beating wildly against their chests. They had denied everything before, and now they melted together. And although Faye still needed time to pick up her own pieces, knowing Sam would be there made her feel, for the first time in a long time, no longer alone.

"Thank you, Sam," Faye murmured as he cupped her cheeks, both of them smiling as he gently wiped away stray tears, "I'd like that a lot."

She looked around and saw Sebastian along with Penny and Abigail grinning as they peeked through the bedroom window. He winked as he poked a finger through the circle his other hand made. Faye scoffed at him playfully and dashed out of Sam's house after him with Sam, Penny, and Abigail following hot on her heels and out into the town.

The banquet, complete with courses for hours, stories for days, and good times for forever, lasted well into the crisp, cool autumn night. Everyone was thankful. Everything was at peace.

* * *

 _A/N: And I dub this story COMPLETE :D Not sure if I'll ever write my own spin on these, but I totally touched on some existing Stardew Valley conspiracies throughout the whole thing ;] Thanks to everyone who followed this story from beginning to end and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it._

 _Until next time, FwichPastilla signing off~:3_


End file.
